Breakfast With the President
January 25th, 2008 by Peter
In the six months since I became executive director of the Family Institute of Connecticut it has been my privilege to represent our state’s pro-family movement at many important events. But the one I attended last Tuesday will be hard to top. Three days ago I was an invited guest at the White House, where I met the President of the United States .
The occasion was a Breakfast in Honor of the 35th Annual March for Life. For the first time ever, key pro-life leaders were invited to the White House on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade to be personally encouraged by the President in their efforts “to build a society where each one of us is welcomed in life and protected in law.”
Breakfast was served to about 200 of us in an ornate room adorned with familiar paintings of past presidents and first ladies. Following breakfast, some highly decorated Marines ushered us into the east room where we waited for the President’s arrival.
I grabbed a seat in the second row and found myself sitting next to Dr. John Wilke, the founder of the pro-life movement. Others present included the legendary Joseph Scheidler, a leading pro-life activist who has withstood an enormous legal assault by the abortion industry, Chris Slattery, who founded the first crisis pregnancy centers in New York City, the distinguished theologian Michael Novak, Catholic League president Bill Donahue and National Review’s Kathryn Jean Lopez. FIC’s peer organizations from Pennsylvania , Maryland and South Carolina were also represented–as were our indispensable allies from the Family Research Council.
Upon entering the room President Bush was greeted by a hearty round of applause that would be repeated at several points during his speech. Looking at those in attendance, “I see faces that shine with a love for life,” he told us. “You’re here because you know that all life deserves to be protected. And as you begin your march, I’m proud to be standing with you,” he said.
While the Supreme Court declared thirty-five years ago that the unborn child is not a person, the President reminded us that biology says otherwise. The President said that “today we’re heartened”–that the number of abortions is declining and at the progress being made in promoting adoption, stopping partial-birth abortion and advancing stem-cell research that respects the sanctity of life. In my favorite line of the speech, the President spoke of a better America as “the destiny of a people whose founding document speaks of the right to life that is a gift of our Creator, not a grant of the state.”
Throughout his talk the President was friendly, smiling, winking at familiar faces in the crowd, a man very much at ease with himself and the world around him. Considering the incredible burden of his position and the outrageous vitriol of his opponents, it was a very reassuring sight. After the speech he stayed long enough to shake the hands of many of us and pose for photos. He made it a special point to pose for those attendees who had brought their children.
So far as I could tell, I was the only person present from Connecticut . The invitation to this event was the President’s way of honoring all of you–the pro-life and pro-family movements of Connecticut . He wants you to know that he supports your work to give us “a new America ” where every unborn child is protected in law and welcomed in life. And I want to thank you for the honor of receiving the President’s message on your behalf.
