2008 Life Prizes Awards Ceremony Speeches

Life Prizes Award Ceremony Program

[Watch Video About Life Prizes]

Ceremony Date: Friday, January 23, 2009
National Museum Building, Washington, DC

Laura Ingraham welcome and introduction

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the 2008 Life Prizes Awards Program!

Americans have a long history of celebrating achievement and ingenuity. We celebrate advances in science, medicine, and politics; granting awards to those who find new ways to promote the betterment of society, to end disease, to improve our way of life. It is only fitting that, in the company of these great celebrations, there is an award to honor advances in protecting that first right that gives all others meaning, the right to life.

You are here because you believe as we do that saving human lives is a calling of unsurpassed importance - especially today, especially in a culture which in so many ways is increasingly hostile to the weak, the vulnerable, to those without a voice.

You are here because powerful forces in our culture are fighting for the souls of the next generation. A group called Choice USA recently announced the winners of its "Generation Awards," giving a prize to one young winner for promoting abortion on her website and writing a book called Hooking Up: A Girl's All-out Guide to Sex and Sexuality.

Ours is a different vision. Life Prizes honors outstanding efforts to awaken the conscience of America to the dignity and value of every human life, and through this celebration to encourage and inspire the next generation to accomplish great things for the cause of life.

We are here tonight because of the vision and generosity of two people: Raymond and Marilyn Ruddy. Through their private charity, the Gerard Health Foundation, the Ruddys have dedicated themselves to saving lives through the support of pro-life initiatives throughout the world, including HIV/AIDS prevention, pregnancy resource centers, pro-life and abstinence education, and judicial reform.

Life Prizes is their latest and perhaps greatest initiative, and this inaugural year the prizes are dedicated to the memory of Norinne A. and Raymond E. Ruddy, parents of Raymond B. Ruddy who were strong believers of the pro-life cause.

Ingraham presentation of First Award to Jill Stanek

Tonight we honor an activist, an intellectual, a nurse, a political appointee, a student, and a medical organization. The efforts of each is unique, but they are united in their dedication to building a Culture of Life in America. They are, in a word, heroes, and it is a privilege to share the stage with them tonight.

Jill Stanek did not mean to be a hero. She was a Labor and Delivery room nurse and saw something that changed her life forever and the national debate on abortion. What she saw was a hospital, ironically named Christ Hospital, leaving a little boy to die after having survived an abortion. And she held him in her arms for his last moments.

Jill discovered that survivors of abortion were routinely refused medical attention and left to die in utility rooms and garbage pails. Like an Old Testament Prophet, Jill Stanek saw something and came to tell us all. And could it be anything other than Divine Providence that this was to happen in Chicago, a town where a State Senator would fight to kill laws to save those babies and later run for President, catapulting this issue before the entire nation?

Like many pro-lifers, Jill has personally suffered for selfless actions, nevertheless she has persevered and gone on to become one of the leading voices for the protection of children before and after birth. She was publicly thanked by President George W. Bush at the signing of the Born Alive Infants Protection Act, and we are here to thank her tonight.

For her bravery in standing up for the lives of all children, whatever the circumstances of their birth, and for her continuing pro-life work in the new media, the Gerard Health Foundation names Jill Stanek a 2008 Life Prize winner.

Acceptance speech by Jill Stanek

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Thanks to the Gerard Foundation for my Life Prize.

I became involved in the pro-life movement accidentally 10 years ago by holding a tiny abortion survivor with Down syndrome. In the span of 45 minutes while this baby died I was converted from an ambivalent to a consumed pro-lifer.

Have I been attacked since? Sure. I was even fired. But whatever hardships I've undergone are inconsequential as related to those I fight for.

There has been success stopping post-abortion infanticides. A law was passed on the federal level and in several states codifying that born babies are persons. That fact had become blurred due to the tentacles of abortion.

That said, passing pro-life laws isn't the end game. Born Alive is not being enforced. In fact, most of our hard-fought laws aren't being enforced, which is an area of great need.

A lesson I learned is to trust God even when situations look grim. During the early 2000s the IL Born Alive Infants Protection Act kept failing, bringing great despair. Who knew its foremost opponent would someday run for president, providing an opportunity to educate the worldwide public that abortion sometimes results in infanticide?

In the past decade I've remained focused, which is one recommendation I'd make to young people. Find a particular area in the pro-life movement about which you are passionate, become an expert, and stick with it. Eventually you will prevail.

Now, since Born Alive is not being enforced and since the new administration may seek to overthrow it and other pro-life laws, I will soon launch a pro-life blog consortium to continue my involvement in the pro-life battle. Will you join me?

Ingraham presentation of Second Award to AAPLOG

There is no profession more poisoned by abortion than the medical profession and no group of doctors more sullied than obstetricians and gynecologists. That is why pro-life OB/GYNs are among the most important voices and witnesses for the unborn child.

While the medical establishment constantly pressures its members to accept abortion on demand as the standard care for untimely pregnancies, the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, or AAPLOG, is a group of medical professionals which constantly fights back.

AAPLOG is fighting to revive the Hippocratic Oath which, shockingly, was abandoned by medical schools two decades ago. When the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology threatened pro-life doctors with the loss of board certification if they failed to perform abortions, AAPLOG members swung into action and their efforts resulted in new rules to protect all doctors from being forced into the practice of abortion.

They are a constant advocate for defending that second patient, the unborn child, and they constantly, through research and advocacy, to challenge the proposition that abortion is good for women!

For their courage in fighting the dominant anti-life ethos in their own profession and advancing the truth about abortion, the 2008 Life Prize is awarded to the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

Acceptance speech by Dr. Donna Harrison

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We are honored to accept the Life Prize award, with gratitude, from the Gerard Health Foundation. We hope to use this prize to launch at least 4 educational projects.

AAPLOG is a professional voice of truth about abortion. Truth is powerful. Truth can't be intimidated into silence. Truth doesn't go away. Truth motivates you to action. It is truth that it is right to protect innocent human life rather than to destroy it.

It is truth that brought many former abortionists to join our organization. It is truth that causes many of our members to risk their professional careers to speak out. Some publish, some get involved with Crisis Pregnancy Centers. Some speak publicly. Some testify before Congress. We speak, we teach and we take care of patients. We do what has been given us to do.

What have you been given to do? Write for a student publication? Do it! Put in some life-affirming truth. Arrange for a speaker on campus? Pick one to address Life issues. Need a term paper topic? Write about a Life issue. As you gain experience in the cultural war, consider a career in the media, or medicine, or law or education or writing. And don't forget the most pro-life career of all: raising a family. And when you speak the truth, wherever you have been given opportunity, you will be amazed at what can happen as a result.

Ingraham presentation of Third Award to Richard Doerflinger

There are experts in bioethics, theology, and public policy, but at the juncture where these three disciplines meet stands one man: Richard Doerflinger. Commonly described as a "walking encyclopedia," Richard has done more to educate policy makers, the media, and the general public about assisted suicide, embryo research, and human cloning than any other single individual in the movement today.

Much of that he has done publicly. He has published dozens of articles and testified numerous times before legislative bodies. The National Journal has called Richard one of the few experts whose ideas are shaping the national debate on biotechnology.

But much more he has done behind the scenes, generously offering his vast knowledge without glory or fanfare. He has served as a chief researcher and drafter of many important statements issued by the U.S. Bishops' Conference, and has closely advised the Senate, the House and the White House on bioethical issues.

Pope John Paul the II's biographer George Weigel says there is no one in the pro-life world whose knowledge and integrity are more widely respected than Richard's, and Father Thomas Berg of the Westchester Institute calls him "one of history's great leaders in the movement."

For playing a vital role in every major pro-life policy debate in the last 25 years, Richard Doerflinger is awarded a 2008 Life Prize.

Acceptance speech by Richard Doerflinger

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My pro-life work began with a one-year break from my doctoral program in theology. Now it's 28 years and counting.

I stayed because I was overwhelmed by the truth of the pro-life message. Of course life begins at the beginning, with conception. Of course the only way to live together in peace is to have the same respect for each human life. People would soon realize that.

Today I am less naive about the power of facts and logic. People don't investigate the evidence and find errors in the pro-life message. They imagine how that message would change their lives -- and find ways to justify continuing to live as they wish. Some scientists and ethicists have become especially skilled at making facts and arguments go away, if they interfere with "progress."

To prevail on this, the greatest human rights issue, we need activists, and we need loving support for those facing difficult pregnancies, disability and terminal illness. We also need people who know the facts and arguments better than our opponents. Ours are the facts people may not want to hear, the arguments they evade if they can. Our message confronts them with responsibilities, instead of making them go away.

So we desperately need young people in all academic fields - ethics, law, science, medicine - to place their skills at the service of life. We need articulate voices for those who have no voice, to dismantle the false and seductive claims that endanger their lives. Please consider joining us.

Ingraham acknowledgment of Awards Selection Advisory Committee

Life Prizes is indebted to four special people who took on the daunting task of recommending 6 winners from over 100 nominations submitted. Serving on the Awards Selection Advisory Committee are His Excellency Charles Chaput, Archbishop of Denver, Reverend Alveda King, niece of Martin Luther King and founder of King for America, Former U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican Raymond Flynn, and the architect of the Born Alive Infants Protection Act, Professor Hadley Arkes of Amherst College. I believe Reverend King and Professor Arkes are with us tonight and I will ask them to stand so that we can recognize them and all of the Awards Selection Advisors.

And now back to the awards.

Ingraham presentation of Fourth Award to Kay Coles James

Kay Coles James' whole life is a testament to the pro-life cause.

Common wisdom would have suggested that Kay herself should have been aborted, born as she was to a family suffering from such poverty that she was born on a kitchen table. Yet this special lady would rise from her humble beginnings and go on to serve Governors and Presidents, bringing her pro-life advocacy to the highest levels of government.

She and her husband, Charles, have worked to advance the pro-life cause for three decades. As founders of both a pregnancy resource center and Black Americans for Life, they were pro-life pioneers to the African-American community.

Today they run The Gloucester Institute, an outreach and education initiative for young African Americans focused on developing solutions for the challenges facing communities today utilizing lessons learned from the civil rights movement, including a recognition that the first civil right is life itself.

As Kay and Charles know, Life Prizes wanted to award both of them with this prize but at the time of the prize announcement Charles was a full-time government employee. Nevertheless, we want to acknowledge you, Charles, and thank you for all you do and have done for the pro-life cause.

For her lifelong advocacy for the unborn child, Kay Coles James is awarded the 2008 Life Prize.

Acceptance speech by Kay Coles James

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Welfare mother, alcoholic father...Born into poverty on a kitchen table. Yes, I was that child. Actually, lucky to be born at all!

Mr. Ruddy asked me to explain to you how I got from that place - from that humble upbringing - to be Secretary of Health and Human Resources in Virginia and to have dealt directly with numerous Presidents.

I'm not certain I know that answer but let me advance just two major strategies that worked for us and hopefully will work for you.

Number one, pick an important issue to work on. Given my background and my fortune to be alive, I chose pro-life. All other "rights" are meaningless if we cannot survive long enough to enjoy them. While you could choose to fight in many important arenas, there is none more important than protecting the value, dignity, and sanctity of human life.

So, my challenge to you is to dedicate your life to the most important civil right issue of our day: the right to life.

Number two, just dig in and work hard.

Many years ago, with the encouragement of our children, Charles and I decided that we would put feet to our faith, get in the arena, and get involved in the pro-life movement. As Theodore Roosevelt once said,

"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes up short again and again...who in the end knows the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."

We wanted to be that person our hero, Theodore Roosevelt, referred to!

This award will be used by the Gloucester Institute to help you to be that person also. At the Gloucester Institute we will identify, train, mentor, educate, and launch the next generation of leadership. America is a great country and it deserves great leadership. At the Gloucester Institute, we seek to expose young emerging leaders to life changing ideas, people, and events. Our desire is to challenge conventional wisdom with critical thinking and produce leaders with clarity of thought, strong moral character, and prepared to enter the pro-life arena and help with other important social issues.

There is much left to be done, carry on!

Ingraham presentation of Fifth Award to Peggy Hartshorn

An old Hebrew saying goes, "Save one life and you save the whole world." If this is so, then Peggy Hartshorn has saved many worlds over. Peggy has been compared to Harriet Tubman who ran the underground railroad and saved thousands of slaves one by one by one. What she and her colleagues have done is to create a network of safe places where women under pressure can find refuge, can find themselves, can save their babies.

Under her leadership, Heartbeat International has grown to become the most expansive network of life-affirming, volunteer ministries in the world, with nearly 1100 affiliates in 43 countries, helping an estimated 2 million women each and every year.

If the unborn child facing abortion is the loneliest person, then the second loneliest is the mother. Peggy and her colleagues are there to hold her hand, give her the compassion and care she needs, to save her life and the life of her baby. This is the service wing of the pro-life movement and it is our glory.

For helping 2 million women each year, one woman at a time, Peggy Hartshorn is awarded a 2008 Life Prize.

Acceptance speech by Peggy Hartshorn

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Thank You, Mr. Ruddy, for your vision and leadership in our movement, and to the nominators, judges, and all who have made this evening possible.

I acknowledge my husband Mike, always my major support, our children, my mother, brother, and other family and friends here tonight, and so many dear colleagues I work with, side by side!

My Life Prize will be given to HBI for Option Line, raising up the African American and Hispanic leadership in our midst, and advancing abortion alternatives internationally.

In the early 1970's, when some wondered, would it take 5 or 10 years to pass a Human Life Amendment, a wise mentor told me, "We're not sprinters, we're long distance runners." I've learned since that we're also in a relay race! It is exciting to see so many of the fresh, new team, to whom I, and others here, will someday be passing the baton - when the Lord finally releases us to do so!

I want to assure the next generation that the Lord is preparing you now for the roles He is calling you into. But you must stay close to Him. Let Him lead, don't get ahead.

The best reward, when you allow the Lord to work through you, is that you get to truly experience Him, His power and His love, and see Him in every sacred life He has created.

Ingraham presentation of Sixth Award to Lila Rose

Lila Rose may be the bravest 20-year-old girl in America. It takes courage to work in the pro-life movement, but it takes a special courage to do the kind of explosive undercover work Lila Rose has done now for years.

Lila Rose has strapped on a secret recording device and gone into Planned Parenthood clinics posing as a 15-year-old girl who was pregnant from her 31-year-old boyfriend. And instead of calling the police and reporting the apparent statutory rape which Planned Parenthood was bound by law to do, the clinic worker coached Lila to lie about her age, and Lila got it all on tape.

Lila devised another undercover operation, this time having her colleagues call Planned Parenthood to offer donations earmarked for aborting black babies. Planned Parenthood was only too happy to accept money for this end, and Lila has it all on tape.

Lila has done things that no one in the pro-life movement has ever done. She has gotten things on tape that no one thought possible. And now her picture hangs in Planned Parenthood offices across the country, which she regards, I know, as a badge of honor!

For her bravery in exposing Planned Parenthood and getting it all on tape, Lila Rose is awarded a 2008 Life Prize

Acceptance speech by Lila Rose

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In the best moments of our noble history, we Americans have consecrated ourselves to great causes.

In today's media-rich world, we are confronted with many burning causes, many voices raised against injustices, large and small, real and imagined

It is impossible to listen to them all, and inhuman to listen to none.

We must choose well, and devote our short time on earth to fight where oppression is deepest, where injustice is most evil. History will judge us by whether we chose to hear the voices of those most oppressed, who cannot speak for themselves, those weak, defenseless, innocent ones, near to us, in our own neighborhoods, in our own cities, who by the thousands each day, become the victims of the great violence of abortion.

I am young; I have only been working a short time, but I am dedicating my life to ending the injustice of abortion.

Some of you in my generation are here tonight. To you I say: Let us be the generation that stood up, raised our voices, and finished the work.

Let us be the ones who willingly offered up our time and talents, with humble confidence that we, under a just God, will prevail. Let us be the restorers of our land's finest dream of justice, of securing the dignity of each human person, of extending liberty even to the smallest.

Ingraham introduction of Ray Ruddy

And now, Mr. Ray Ruddy, President of the Gerard Health Foundation.

Ray Ruddy remarks

I personally want to congratulate all six winners. They are truly heroes for our time.

Next I would like to thank a number of people who made this endeavor possible.

First and foremost my wife, Marilyn.

For years I have listened to speakers thank their wives for being supportive in every way.

Not in this case.

Marilyn challenges everything I dream up and start to do. But that is what has worked. She keeps the proper focus on health, family, work, church and God. And all that helps make me stronger.

So, thank you, Marilyn, for your patience with me and for your help, your love and, yes, for your eventual support.

I would like to thank two people next:

Leonard Leo, Executive Vice President of the Federalist Society and Chairman of the Board of Students for Life, has been extremely helpful. He is the ultimate Washington insider. He knows everyone and everything, and helped me avoid 9 errors for every one I have made.

Kristan Hawkins is the President for Students for Life of America. Among many other things Kristan arranged for all the students to be with us tonight.

Thank you Leonard and Kristan.

Please hold your applause until I mention five more people.

I also want to thank Cathy Ruse, Executive Director of Life Prizes. When she delivered her baby in November her husband, Austin Ruse, stepped in to pinch hit for her.

Jack Malloy has the unique distinction of being the father-in-law of my daughter, Carolyn, who is with us tonight. Jack not only helped with Life Prizes but he also runs the Gerard Health Foundation. He does great work and I get all the credit.

And we want to also thank Jack's associate, Thom Gilbert, who pinch hit for us when the need was there.

Claude Allen runs the GHF's operations here in DC and almost every one of our grants and projects. He has done a great job. He knows and is especially beloved by everyone.

Thank you Cathy, Austin, Jack, Thom, and Claude for making this evening memorable.

In a couple of minutes we will invite you to move into the reception; which is located directly behind you.

We originally thought 400 people would attend this event, the response was so overwhelming that we have 1,200 people here this evening. There is plenty of food, I guarantee it - but space is a bit tight. Therefore, we ask that you get your food and move back into the seating area to make room for others to get to the buffets.

A few words in closing, especially for the students.

On screen:
Nigh is grandeur to our dust,
So near is God to man.
When duty whispers low, "Thou must,"
The youth replies, "I can." - Emerson

Emerson is speaking to us, today.

Our honorees tonight are not unusual, exceptional people; they are ordinary people who heard the whisper and said "I can."

So, let every one of us resolve to answer the call to save those lives the world has called not worthy.

Every one of the winners will tell you you can do it if you simply try.

Thank you and God Bless you.