We cannot diminish the value of one category of human life -- the unborn -- without diminishing the value of all human life," Reagan wrote as president. It was a principle he held true to during his presidency. Rejecting the advice of his pollsters, Reag an spoke against abortion, frequently and well in his State of the Union addresses and, most memorably, in Abortion and the Conscience of a Nation.

Perhaps most importantly, when the elites did and still do value choice over life, President Reagan rejected their received conventional wisdom. The elites of this country denied Reagan their accolades. They called him every name in the book and stopped only to invent new ones. Reagan was nonplussed, even unconcerned. But the elites could not deny him the plum of our politics as Reagan valued principles over political power and for that reason; the American people gave him political power.

If the elites hated Reagan for his stance against abortion, the average American loved or admired him for it. He spoke and acted from conviction a rare quality in politics. In short, he was a leader who led and who brought the prolife movement, if not into polite society, then at least into the political mainstream.

Reagan argued in defense of life unequivocally, not just some lives or a few lives but all lives very explicitly when he said: We will never recognize the true value of our own lives until we affirm the value in the life of others, a value of which Malcolm Muggeridge says, 'however low it flickers or fiercely burns, it is still a Divine flame which no man dare presume to put out, be his motives ever so humane and enlightened. He spoke the truth and it requires courage to speak the truth.

The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob has called Ronald W. Reagan home. His presence will be sorely missed. Let us remember to say a Hail Mary for him. Amen.