"The main argument of the right to life movement is strikingly simple
and central in Western moral categories: Each human life is singularly important
and cannot be morally subordinated to the self-interests of those who are
more powerful."
Sociologist James Kelly
"Denial is not just a river in Egypt. It's how we cope."
Pro-abortion leader talking to her colleagues
"Death, once invited in, leaves its bloody footprints everywhere."
Novelist John Updike
"A Gallup Poll found that since the `partial-birth' ban was first raised,
the percentage who believe abortion should be legal under any circumstances
has dropped a spectacular one-third, while the percentage who believe it
should be legal only under certain circumstances has risen significantly."
Ruth Padawer, a reporter who has written extensively on partial-birth abortion,
in an op-ed that appeared in the November 17 issue of USA Today
In preparing this labor of love, the 25th edition commemorating
the 25th anniversary of Roe, I did what all good editorial writers
do: called upon many of the most gifted, thoughtful pro-lifers to bounce
questions and ideas off them. (Their shrewd analyses and brilliant insights
I would, of course, shamelessly crib.)
Let me say that even with an issue as jampacked as this edition, we couldn't
possibly do more than whet your appetite. Roe truly was the legal shot "heard
`round the world" and its aftermath is not only ongoing but infinitely
complex. But I promise you that in addition to all the excellent material
to be found in this issue of NRL News, you can expect more where
that came from over the next 11 months. Stay tuned.
Painting in the broadest strokes, let me address three interrelated questions:
Where are we/and how far have we come? What are the basic ingredients that
will determine how our message is received in the years to come? Given those
components, what are the prospects for returning legal protection to the
littlest Americans?
One useful way, I think, of looking at all this is in terms of what I call
the three "Ms": message, messenger, and milieu.
Pro-lifers should harbor no illusions: abortion is not a pleasant topic
and most people would rather undergo root canal surgery than come to grips
with our message. What we do is hold a mirror up to the American people,
in which (were they to look) they see both the sheer ugliness of abortion
and their own cowardly complicity. All in all, not something that necessarily
is going to win us any friends.
Yet as the quote from Ruth Padawer cited above indicates, it is possible
to get through. Public opinion on abortion is changing. Why?
People have always disliked abortion, but at the same time, deep, deep down,
many have convinced themselves they can't live {!} without it. Our job is
to help them see this cradle of lies for what it is. But before they can
agree to our prescription treat unborn human beings with love
and respect people have to be awakened to the description.
That is, to the truth that somebody dies horribly when they exercise their
"choice."
This is crucial because you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure
out that since abortion is packaged to a panicky young woman as an "easy,"
"convenient" way out of a tough, tough situation, unless the "problem"
becomes more than an abstraction she will sweep "it" out of her
life.
The most dramatic result of the ongoing debate over partial-birth abortion
has been to put a human face on "it." Better yet, its powerful
impact is acting synergistically; the benefits to our cause will extend
beyond an abhorrence of partial-birth abortion.
However, even if people's hearts are softened, their minds primed to grapple
with the truth, forward momentum can be stopped dead in its tracks if a
wonderful message is overwhelmed by a messenger perceived to be universally
unpleasant. It's one thing for us to get doused with the old inflammatory
labels: self-righteous, uncaring, fetus-loving, woman-hating, etc. We can
do a lot to put out those fires, first and foremost by showing that we care
for both mother and unborn child (see story, page 6).
But alas, in recent years on rare occasions a few scattered nuts who claimed
to be "pro-life" indulged in violence against property and persons.
The damage to the cause of unborn babies proved to be incalculable. "Pro-life"
and murder an abortionist?! Read the result of polls that matched up pro-lifers
with a lengthy list of various pejorative descriptives and you'll find that
we have a (undeserved, to be sure) black eye with the public.
On the plus side, because organizations such as NRLC vociferously and unambiguously
denounced violence, thankfully, most media outlets now understand that 99.9%
of pro-lifers are horrified by acts of violence against abortion clinics
and clinic personnel.
Part of what is persuading the public of our humanity is the growing
number of high school and college students who've taken up the cause of
the children (see story, page 28).
As one alumnus of the 1960s thoughtfully put it, "the pro-life cause
is the last remaining outlet for the natural idealism of students that has
a moral base." Indeed, idealism is at the core of the Pro-Life Movement.
We stand athwart a culture bred to narcisstic self-indulgence, saying no!
to cruelty and yes! to compassion. No wonder kids are flocking to us.
Finally, how about the milieu? What can we say about the cultural environment
in which we operate? Are the winds blowing in our direction, or are we tacking
against strong gusts?
Surely most are moving in our direction. The abandonment, when not murder
of newborn children, is forcing us to wonder where we went wrong. The explosive
growth in child abuse is demanding a moral accounting. We can also hope
that the automatic presumption of truth extended by reporters to pro-abortion
propaganda will come to an end because of the blatant lies promoted by defenders
of partial-birth abortion. On a more positive note, there is an growing
appreciation of the centrality of families and faith.
In her helpful look at the origins of the post-abortion movement, American
Victims of Abortion Director Olivia Gans reminds us how important it is
that pro-lifers have extended a welcoming hand to women who've aborted (see
story, page 9). My firm conviction is that we will soon be overwhelmed by
men racked with guilt and remorse over their role in an abortion, whether
that took the form of coercing women, failing to support them in their hour
of need, or being in the soul-mutilating position of not being able to save
their child.
Dr. Vincent Rue relayed this story in a recent article he wrote. "One
father whose child died from an abortion described his grief this way: `I
wasn't in the room; I wasn't even in the clinic that day. But in my mind,
I've been there a million times since. I've been there watching, mourning....
In my mind I need to be a hero not a killer, the man who didn't flee. But
I am not. I am the man I fear to be.'"
Not only are you idealists, comrades in the finest movement for social justice
in this century, you are egalitarians in the very best sense of the term.
For you protectable life knows no age or sex or color or I.Q. boundaries.
You give and give and give because... because it's the right thing to do.
You are faithful in a society to whom that word is an anachronism.
You are devoted to others at a time when devotion to self is celebrated
as the highest virtue.
You hunger and thirst after timeless truths in an era when "absolutophobia"
- - the unwillingness to say anything is wrong - - is flourishing.
You refuse to be labeled liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican.
You transcend such silly labels. There is no better example of true ecumenism
than the non-partisan, non-sectarian Movement to which you have dedicated
your lives.
Many critics insist there can be no resolution to the abortion controversy:
The respective combatants speak different languages. Pro-abortionists talk
about women, we're told, pro-lifers about unborn children. How foolish!
We will prevail precisely because you are bilingual, lifting up both
mother and child. You are fluent in the language of justice, mercy, and
love, the very qualities that someday will reconcile America and her unborn
children.
dha