A CLEAR-CUT CHOICE

"Today we are learning the language in which God created life....We are gaining ever more awe for the complexity, the beauty, the wonder of God's most divine and sacred gift. With this profound new knowledge, humankind is on the verge of gaining immense, new power to heal. Genome science will have a real impact on all our lives - - and even more, on the lives of our children."

President Clinton at the June 26 announcement that scientists had produced a rough draft of the human genome

"The human genome is a pearl, a model of high performance and reliability. Millions of times a year, egg genome meets sperm genome, and the result is a human baby, its parts all in place, its brain a universe of love and meaning."

New York Times, June 26, 2000

By the time you sit down to sample the delicious educational fare in this edition of the "pro-life newspaper of record," we will be nearing Labor Day, not only a day for family picnics but also the unofficial kick-off to the political season. And what a season it will be, culminating in a momentous, fork-in-the-road, destiny-changing November 7 election.

Americans are only now beginning to seriously contemplate the most clear-cut choice on abortion since Justice Harry Blackmun started seeing "penumbras" and decided that lurking in the shadows of various amendments to the Constitution was the "right" to obliterate tens of millions of unborn babies!

Gov. George W. Bush is solidly pro-life and chose as his vice president a man who compiled a 100% pro-life voting record while in Congress (against the advice of a gazillion pro-abortion media outlets).

Coming out of a very strong and exceptionally unified convention in Philadelphia, the pro-life team of Bush and former Congressman Richard Cheney is preparing to take on pro-abortion Vice President Al Gore and whatever pro-abortion companion he's cleared with Planned Parenthood and NARAL in what lawyers would call a good "fact situation."

What turf will the abortion battle be fought on? If we do not leave it to the pro-abortion Democratic ticket and their partners in the media, the American people will be asked the following:

Is it acceptable to all-but-deliver an unborn baby, then savagely attack her with surgical scissors, as an abortionist does when performing a partial-birth abortion? Al Gore says yes, George W. Bush says no!

Is it acceptable to execute a pregnant woman? Al Gore says yes, " The principle of a woman's right to choose governs in that case." George W. Bush says no, "There's a second life involved."

Is it okay to keep parents in the dark about an unmarried minor daughter who is contemplating an abortion? Asked by NBC's Tim Russert, Gore responded, "Difficult question," and then offered a raft of reasons why parents shouldn't be told. Bush says simply, of course parents ought to be informed.

For that matter, should we have no recourse but to stand idly by if a stranger, in order to circumvent a state law requiring parental notice, takes our pregnant daughter out of state to have an abortion? Al Gore says, sure. George Bush would say, no way! How about federal funding of abortion? Gore, yes, Bush, no. And on and on and on and on.

Come November, will this likely be a tight race? Everything says yes. The first presidential election that caught my youthful attention was 1960. We may witness an election that is every bit as close, one decided by a similar razor-thin margin.

There are several background factors which potentially make your role in this hallmark of democracy even more significant than usual.

There is simply no way to predict turnout. Could be high, could very well be low. For once the media consensus is true [because it is obvious]: The electorate has calmed down considerably. The anger that dominated elections in the not too distant past has dissipated. Without that "push," who knows who'll make the trip to the polls.

Add to this the "pull" away exerted by the upcoming Olympics and World Series, which are widely watched. There may easily be far fewer people watching the presidential debates. Many, many people may pay only fleeting attention to "politics" until the very end, if at all.

What does that mean for pro-life citizens? Begin work early! At the top of the work list? Ensuring that every pro-lifer is registered, every pro-lifer thoroughly aware of the real positions of Al Gore and George W. Bush.

Never forget Gore believes in his heart that voters respond to ugliness and vituperation. So committed is Gore to going for the throat that it will be almost comical to watch him during those brief respites when the vice president reluctantly refrains from verbally assaulting the Texas governor.

But Gore is so uncomfortable with civility when he does reluctantly take the high road he will veer so close to the shoulder that he will constantly be in danger running off into the ditch. As soon as Gore thinks he can get away with it, he'll be back on the low road, much more familiar and congenial territory. Gore is to attack-dog partisanship what his mentor and guru Bill Clinton is to slippery ethics.

Bush's personality and behavior are as far away from Gore's as the east is from the west. He is a unifier by nature, a man who prides himself on his ability to bring people together.

dave andrusko [dha1245@juno.com]