Crucial Significance of 2000 Elections Underscored at NRLC '99

By Dave Andrusko

If there were any lingering doubt in the minds of pro-lifers that the 2000 elections are of historic proportions, they were eliminated at an important NRLC '99 general session sponsored and paid for by the NRL PAC.

The session's title encapsulated the message in just three words: "Vote Smart 2000." NRLC Executive Director David N. O'Steen, Ph.D., explained to an audience of over 500 the magnitude of the stakes.

"In 2000 we must win back our government, not for ourselves, but for the untold millions of children whose very existence may depend on our decisions, our actions, and our judgment in the months to come," he said.

O'Steen began by countering those who counsel a withdrawal from the public policy arena with a vivid statistic. "About every 3 1/2 minutes a baby is born who would be dead if the abortion numbers today were the same as they were at their peak," he said. "About every 3 1/2 minutes your actions have saved a child's life."

He reminded them of how bad the situation would be had pro-lifers folded their tents after Clinton/Gore were elected in 1992. The radical FOCA measure, which would have take the abortion "liberty" beyond even that established by Roe v. Wade, would now be law as would a health care rationing plan that paid for abortions and would lead to involuntary euthanasia. "And the Hyde Amendment would be gone," he added.

With several Supreme Court justices either very old or with health problems, O'Steen pointed out that the next President could well make at least three appointments to the High Court.

"Should there be eight more years of the kind we've experienced under Clinton/Gore, we could wind up with a Supreme Court like the one we had in 1973": 7-2 against the babies.

O'Steen also raised the issue of electability, cautioning the audience not to listen to those who would take the third party route. " A candidate who can't win can't do the unborn child any good."

Attendees saw videos from many of the pro-life presidential candidates, including Texas Gov. George W. Bush, commentator Pat Buchanan, former Red Cross president Elizabeth Dole, Forbes magazine CEO Steve Forbes, former vice president Dan Quayle, and New Hampshire Sen. Bob Smith. (Videos were requested from Gary Bauer, John Kasich, and Alan Keyes but were not provided by their campaigns.)

The last presentation was a surprise: an excerpt from a video of the Jan. 22, 1997, NARAL breakfast honoring pro-abortion Vice President Al Gore, the candidate most likely to secure the Democrat Party's presidential nomination. NARAL President Kate Michelman gushed that the Clinton/Gore team should be thanked "for saving Roe."

O'Steen warned of "a little game" that the major media employs every four years. The pro-life candidate, he explained, is invariably described either as insufficiently pro-life - - and therefore someone about whom pro-lifers should not be enthused - - or a radical extremist - - whom the population at large should fear.

NRLC PAC Director Carol Long Tobias pleaded with pro-lifers to work hard for their candidates but to come together behind whomever is the eventual pro-life nominee against any pro-abortion nominee. Tobias went further. "If you get a fundraising letter from a candidate who is attacking another pro-life candidate, send them back a polite note that you won't be sending any money until they stop these senseless attacks."

In reiterating the critical importance of "all pro-lifers working together, moving in the same direction, Tobias reminded her audience of the time frame.

"Bill Clinton leaves office in 574 days, but we elect our next president 500 days from today. The countdown has begun."