Will you stand with the unborn?
Real Heroes Standing in the Gap

By Don Parker
NRLC Development Director

On January 20, I had the honor to stand on the chilly grounds of the U.S. Capitol and watch as history was being made.

As the 55th Inauguration of a President of the United States unfolded before me and thousands of other Americans, it was hard not to think of the hope and promise that the first President, George Washington, must have felt for the new republic that he would lead. This reminded me of the hope that we pro-lifers have today for our nation and its unborn children.

History has brought us to a time when hope is rife that we can change our laws and our culture so that they protect every precious life, as promised in the Declaration of Independence. Could this be the time in history when the promises of our nation's founding documents are finally fulfilled?

As I was thinking about this, a truly amazing thing happened. On a large viewing screen, I could see the leader of one of the institutions charged with protecting those precious rights, the U.S. Supreme Court, begin to walk down the long series of stairs just inside the Capitol Building.

For most people, this would not be a remarkable feat. But for Chief Justice William Rehnquist, who has been fighting what is thought to be a particularly aggressive form of thyroid cancer, it was an act of sheer willpower.

Chief Justice Rehnquist, absent from the court in recent months because of his illness, had said he wanted to administer the oath of office to the President. So he willed himself down those stairs, and then using a cane, but with no human hand to help him, walked purposefully across the platform to perform his constitutional duty.

I thought it was fitting that Chief Justice Rehnquist would go to such lengths to stand and do his duty, just as he has stood for so many years for the Constitution - - the real Constitution as written and understood by those who wrote it and amended it, not the "constitution" as kidnapped by justices eager to substitute their policy preferences for what the Constitution actually says.

Chief Justice Rehnquist, one of the two dissenters in Roe v. Wade, refused to agree with his seven brethren who discovered a "right" to kill an unborn child secreted away in the U.S. Constitution - - so secret, in fact, that it had remained undiscovered for nearly 200 years.

Chief Justice Rehnquist has been one of those heroes who have stood in the gap to defend our Constitution. There have been others, and there will be more.

In the end, I believe there will be enough of these heroes to someday win a case before a U.S. Supreme Court that will reject any notion that there is a right to kill innocent human beings. But I had to think, as I watched Mr. Rehnquist's courage on Inauguration Day, that it was sad that he might not be on the Court that great day to see the Constitution vindicated, and so many unborn lives saved.

No, the heroes who will hasten the day Roe v. Wade is overturned are not the people you would expect. The struggle ahead will depend not so much on office-holders and opinion leaders, but rather on ordinary people like you and me. History is calling on you to be the hero who stands in the gap, someone whose sheer willpower and determination refuses to accept defeat.

How do I know the struggle for a Supreme Court that respects the Constitution will be waged by ordinary citizens? Because an item in the January 31 edition of the Washington Times tells me what is about to hit us.

Ralph Neas, head of the pro-abortion group "People for the American Way," is getting ready for the coming fights to confirm or reject Supreme Court nominees. According to the article, his organization has a 2,500-square-foot "war room" with phones, 36 computers, and enough equipment for 75 paid staff and 50 volunteers to conduct a grassroots fight against any Supreme Court nominee who doesn't agree with its positions.

No pro-life group has anything like this. National Right to Life doesn't even have 75 employees, much less 75 we can assign to one project.

Yet we must and we will win the battles that lie ahead. They will be like a long election campaign, only bigger, and we will be on the receiving end of a campaign all the more vicious because of the magnitude of the stakes. You can see why we are looking for ordinary Americans to be heroes . . . to stand in the gap.

There is a reason that our opponents consistently choose to fight the abortion issue in the judiciary: they usually lose in the democratically chosen state and federal legislatures. That's why they filibuster against decent men and women who have been nominated to federal judgeships, even though the nominees have impeccable records and the highest ratings: the Supreme Court is their last bastion. If issues like abortion were left to the democratic process, as envisioned by the Founding Fathers, almost no state legislature would have passed a bill as radically pro-abortion as Roe v. Wade.

We have outstanding grassroots supporters and in our membership. I'm confident that our members have the vision to see that we are approaching not just a colossal battle, but many colossal battles over the future of the U.S. Supreme Court. At least for the foreseeable future, the outcome of those battles - - our successes or failures - - will determine whether we turn the tide against abortion and the killing of innocent human beings.

You can help us win these battles. One way is by filling out and mailing the coupon below with a generous check today. Your donation can help us grow in membership, size, and resources, so we can meet the challenges the wealthy pro-abortion groups will present.

When National Right to Life calls or writes again asking for a gift, please consider prayerfully if you can give generously.

Please call or write to your state or local Right to Life chapter and ask what you can do to help win the fight for the lives of unborn children. Please do all you possibly can.

And please, please don't think that recent election victories somehow assure us of our final victory. Winning an election is only the first step. The real history will be made in the coming months and years.

Now is the time for heroes, heroes like you, to stand in the gap for unborn children.