NRL News
Page 2
Summer 2012
Volume 39
Issue 3

“Life Is the Most Precious Thing”

After first pondering and then putting into action the many helpful recommendations that are everywhere in this edition, my guess is that, like me, you will feel a surge of pride in our Movement. Just consider the breadth and depth of the achievements that grassroots pro-lifers are making in the face of a ferocious anti-life offensive, led by the Obama Administration.

Speaking of the most pro-abortion Administration ever, by the time you devour this issue of the “pro-life newspaper of record,” benefiting from the shrewd insights and strategic wisdom found on every page, two momentous events will have transpired. The Supreme Court will have rendered its verdict on ObamaCare, the “signature” accomplishment of an administration that is all speed and no altitude except when promoting the agenda of the Abortion Lobby.

Whatever the High Court’s verdict, the outcome is only Round One. ObamaCare is riddled with provisions that will allow the administration to subsidize abortion via insurance coverage, as well as promoting euthanasia through health care rationing. The fight to cleanse the body politick of this anti-life virus is just beginning, proving once again that elections matter!

Likewise, the “Fortnight for Freedom,” described by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops as a “special period of prayer, study, catechesis, and public action [that] will emphasize both our Christian and American heritage of liberty,” will have culminated with a special Mass on the 4th of July at Washington’s Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, one of the largest churches in the nation.

The magnitude of the issues at stake in this campaign of public education and advocacy is hard to exaggerate, especially in light of the President’s utter indifference to the impact of his attack on liberty. Triflings such as religious freedom, separation of church and state (properly understood), and the Constitution are mere speed bumps for the man who once revealingly illuminated his expansive view of himself and his mission: “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.” (Please read the story on page 18.)

Many of our 365,000+ readers also receive our daily blog, NRL News Today (www.nationalrighttolifenews.org). There they read extensive coverage of the changes in how the public self-identifies on abortion. Most recall how delighted they were to learn that, according to Gallup, the fewest ever self-identified as “pro-choice” (41%), while 50% identified themselves as pro-life, one point short of the all-time high.

Just as encouraging is that while the trend remains that older people were much more likely to be pro-life than young people, “the differences between age groups have become less dramatic,” explains Prof. Michael New. “There is also interesting data from the General Social Survey which shows that young adults may actually be more willing to oppose abortion in specific circumstances than other demographic group.”

And because many of you also read NRL News Today, you are aware that, unfortunately, the more the public’s uneasiness with abortion on demand deepens, the more adamant pro-abortionists become that there can be absolutely no limitations on the “right to abortion.” The resemblance to the 1970s, when pro-abortionists nearly cornered the market on inhumane recommendations, is uncanny.

That anything and everything goes is not confined to conjuring up imaginary reasons to oppose a ban on sex-selection abortion (see the story on the back cover and Rep. Chris Smith’s unforgettable essay on page 4). That’s just for starters. They are just as opposed to banning abortions of babies who are capable of feeling pain. What a revolutionary thought: we shouldn’t tear arms off of torsos or crush the skulls of babies who will suffer unimaginable pain. (See Back Cover.)

There is this amazingly misguided determination to put a glossy sheen on any abortion, to refuse to say there is an end point (any end point).

As one wrote recently, “Winning the moral, cultural, and political debate surrounding abortion rights means that we must not give the other side the upper hand on any aspect. Suggesting that nobody wants an abortion or that nobody should be willing and happy to talk about her experience reinforces the idea that it is shameful—and it gives the other side the moral advantage.” Abortion as “rare”? That’s so 1990ish.

Of course, the refusal to say there are any perimeters to the “right” to abortion has always left zealots soft on infanticide. (What difference does a couple of inches down the birth canal make?) Thus the reappearance of the campaign to normalize infanticide. Its new name is “after-birth abortion.”

This edition also provides many resources to help you understand who it is that will be competing to be President. President Obama makes no bones about being “pro-choice.” Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is his mirror image—unequivocally pro-life. Start with page one, then look at the comparison piece on page 8 and the President’s Record on Life on page 9. The choice is unmistakably clear-cut.

One final thought. Forced abortion as part of China’s “one-child” policy and sex-selection abortion go together hand in curettage. Woe to the unborn baby girl in general—there is a strong cultural preference for boys—made worse if she is an “unauthorized” second child where cultural prejudices get accentuated by the population control dictates of a tyrannical government.

The pro-life human rights activist Chen Guangchen learned of forced abortions and sterilizations in Shandong’s Linyi prefecture. “When Chen investigated and intervened with a class action suit on behalf of women in Linyi City who suffered horrific abuse under China’s one child per couple policy, he was arrested, detained and tortured,” according to Rep. Smith. After more than four years in prison and 19 months under house arrest, Chen escaped and eventually brought his wife and two children to this country in May.

How are Chen and his wife learning to speak English? According to the Washington Post, “Five times a week, under the guidance of an English tutor at New York University’s law school, Chen has been using the Declaration of Independence as a makeshift textbook. The 236-year-old document can make for difficult reading, but for a man who spent most of the past decade imprisoned in China while fighting for the rights of his fellow villagers, it resonates deeply.”

He struggles to pronounce some of the more difficult terms, William Wan writes, particularly “unalienable rights.” I was deeply moved, as I believe you will, by the symbolism wrapped up in these two sentences:

“Life is a ungh-ae-lee-un-ah-boh right,” Chen answers a little quickly.

“Life,” his wife said, then paused. “Life is the most precious thing.”