Keeping The Pro-Life Movement Alive

National Review: On Roe's Anniversary, A Call To Keep Fighting

(National Review Online)  This column was written by Nikolas T. Nikas.

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First they ignore you.
Then they ridicule you.
Then they fight you.
Then you win.

This insightful observation of Mahatma Gandhi reveals a truth about social-reform movements — that it takes perseverance to achieve victory.

Ending the darkness of Roe v. Wade is not only possible, it is more than likely to occur if those who understand what's at stake don't give up, having tired of the seemingly long battle.

For, as social-reform movements go, the 34-year struggle to overturn Roe and its judicial progeny is still a relatively young one.

The lessons of the long struggle for black civil rights are instructive. From the advent of the first African slave being taken to the American colonies in 1619 to the beginning of the Civil War was a period of 246 years. The cause for life is, in comparison, only 34 years old.

The ratification of the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery in 1865 to the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 was a period of approximately 100 years. We who fight for life having been laboring for only one third as long.

From the announcement in 1896 by the Supreme Court in Plessy v. Ferguson that "separate but equal" public accommodations for blacks and whites was constitutional to the reversal of that decision by the same Supreme Court in 1954 in the Brown v. Board of Education case was a period of 58 years — almost a quarter of a century longer than our present struggle.

The period from the Civil Rights Amendment in 1964 to the present is approximately 42 years, eight years longer than we have presently struggled. The lesson is that American social-reform movements sometimes take time. We will win the battle to overturn Roe if we do not lose heart.

But as we maintain a long-term vision, we must also come to terms with today's brutal facts. The numbers are staggering and so, sometimes, is the temptation to despair. As we soberly mark the 34th anniversary of the judicial atrocity known as Roe v. Wade, the sheer number of innocent victims of that act of judicial tyranny overwhelms our everyday experience.

Even under the most conservative of estimates (and we lack certainty because we do not have a national, uniform mandatory abortion reporting requirement), somewhere between 40 million and 50 million unborn children have died under this nation's regime of abortion.

To put that number in some context, the best estimate is that the total war dead, of all causes, for all of America's major and minor wars since 1775 is 1,329,991 or an amount equal to just one year of Roe's infernal tally.

It is true that a prudent, incremental strategy of judicial, legislative, and public media efforts, including test cases, test legislation, and consistent public education, have led to noticeable gains in reducing the number of abortions and educating the public (and perhaps, soon, ending the legal support of partial-birth infanticide).

However, the relentless daily, monthly and annual toll of unborn lives lost, mothers and fathers physically and emotionally devastated, and cultural and political disunity of the country, leads many to wonder if the fight, after so many years of battling, is really winnable.

Can we honestly expect things to change when so many lives have been lost, so many families affected, so many legal battles and legislative arguments made and ignored, so much money spent and so many years of our lives gone by?

The answer is a resounding "yes." Positive signs are all around us.

The ever more detailed pictures of unborn babies in the womb manifest their humanity in ways that only the most hardened can deny. More young adults and high school students are pro-life than ever before. The accumulating weight of serious medical studies details the truth conclusively that abortion, in addition to killing her unborn child, is harmful to the woman who subjects herself to it.

On the legal front there are also hopeful signs. In addition to new principled justices, at no time in the last 34 years has the Supreme Court ever found a solid constitutional basis for the so-called "right to terminate a pregnancy."

Combine this with the equally revealing, albeit maddening, point that the Supreme Court conceded in the Casey decision 19 years after Roe — that no single constitutional argument standing alone could buttress the "right" to abort (i.e., without the added legal doctrine of stare decisis abortion jurisprudence is a house of cards) — and the overturning of Roe is inevitable.

Ultimately, the realization that the radical ideology behind the abortion industry is bankrupt morally, culturally, economically, and spiritually will lead to the collapse of the current abortion regime, just as surely as the deadly decay and false reality of Marxism led to the fall of the Soviet Union. All this is the good news if we just keep up the struggle.

[i-tack]

marcodele,

The effect of "abortion on demand" + "social democratic" taxation has made Western Europe into an older region unable to look forward and pay for the promises that they have made. As a result, they have allowed massive immigration from countries that THEY (not I) would deem "inferior" to pay the taxes. The results of this will be clear - a Germany that is not Germanic et al.

In America, take away the illegal and legal immigrants from the discussion and you would find that our hesitancy toward abortion has only kept our non-immigrant population near neutral. If wider adoption of abortion is allowed, why should we expect our country to avoid the pitfalls that Europe is already experiencing?

[dallison7]

I raised seven kids!! I believe abortion should be legal until the child reaches the age of 25 yrs!!

[marcodele]

Sorry l-tack but I must respectfully disagree with your logic which makes certain suppositions about the cultural effects of abortion:

You said "Declining populations unable to support their own social programs, requiring a huge influx of foreign nationals to prop up the tax base, which leads to national instability because of the clash of cultures."

There have been clashes of cultures in every corner of the world since time began, whether or not abortions were occuring anywhere.

The U.S. population just topped 300,000,000. Where's the decline?

[humansmatter]

Grumpas (and others in favor of allowing abortion),
You didn't answer my question. Yes, it is very material as to whether the prenatal child killed by abortion is a living human being. Take your own words and substitute "fetus" for every other class of human beings who have been the victims of violent discrimination, "I do not believe X is a human being and I have a right to my belief."
Not when your belief seriously harms others and your belief is scientifically and logically wrong. What magic happened at your birth that turned you from a non-human "thing" into a human being? If you were not a living human being before you were born, tell me to which species you belonged! Admit the truth: abortion kills a living human being. The life of every human being is precious. All of us will die someday, but none of us should be deliberately killed.

[i-tack]

Rafterman1,

So based on your assessment, you could argue that there is hypocrisy in wanting to kill an unborn child who has harmed no one, but not an enemy combatant who is willing to harm others?

Your view of hypocrisy can be factual, but it is not exclusively truthful.

[i-tack]

Arguing for/against abortion on an emotional level is a fool's errand because it stirs much inside a person's inner self (and I am not a lawyer, so I won't debate it as law). But on a national level...

Whether you believe abortion is a choice, or a right, or murder, look at the mess that open-abortion has created in Europe.

Declining populations unable to support their own social programs, requiring a huge influx of foreign nationals to prop up the tax base, which leads to national instability because of the clash of cultures.

I've witnessed this myself in Germany, Austria, Wales, England, etc.

[tjrc2767]

I am pro-life. This means standing up against abortion, which I proudly did yesterday, as well as standing up against capital punishment, euthanasia and the completely unjust war in Iraq. I talk with a lot of people who are hyper focused on why abortion is wrong but in the same breath talk about the need to increase the level of violence in Iraq. On the flip side are people who talk about how insane it to oppose abortion but support the war. I am endless perplexed how each side can see half an argument so clearly but not the whole. A fetus is a life in it's earliest stages but life none the less. Placing a mother's convenience or perceived independence over her child's life is morally wrong and void of any logical defense. I support a woman's choice to have full dominion over her body, as it pertains to itself,solely,not a separate entity growing within it. The choice is in a woman's hands as far as how to channel her passion and how to protect herself during their physical manifestations. A child/baby/fetus/grouping of cells that will soon be a baby is not a choice, it's a responsibility. Choose wisely or not, but don't cry that freedoms are compromised if a portion of society (hopefully one that is growing) forces you to be responsible for your choices.

[grumpas]

humansmatter: I for one am sick to death of having self righteous people like yourself shove their religious belief's down my throat!!!! If you don't want an abortion, you have the right to not get one! End of story! Where do you come off assuming you know what is right for every woman in this country????? That is the height of arrogance and the last I knew God hates arrogance! I do not not view the fetus in the womb as being a human life until after it is born! Whether I am right or wrong is immaterial! It's my belief and I have as much right to it as people like you do! But, you are bound determined to see my rights taken away from me so they fit your rigid religious belief's! You may accomplish this! But I don't think people like you have ever once stopped to think about the end results of what you are proposing! The bottom line is we are over-populating ourselves into oblivion! It has reached a critical stage where if something isn't done to reverse the trend we are going to destroy this world for everyone! I simply do not believe this is what God ever intended! He didn't give us this world to destroy with arrogance and ignorance! But, that is what the Pro-life movement wants! You could do better to protest the slaughter of innocent human beings in Iraq by a madman!

[rafterman1]

"Howcome all they talk about is choice, womens' rights, birth control, etc. ad nauseum?"

Because it IS about choice. I know a lot of women who believe in choice, but wouldn't get an abortion for themselves. It is a decision htey make for themselves, but will not make it for others.

"Intentional murder of human beings is ugly, disgusting, nothing anyone would claim to support"

Well, 30% of this country currently supports it in Iraq. I'll bet a good percentage of that 30% also backs banning abortions, which is an ultimate hypocracy. How many innocent Iraqis have died due to the actions of people who, incidently, find abortion repugnant, yet support policies of war that kill innocents all the time?

[afmca]

I could make the same comment to EJRyan2 - what real solutions do the anti-choice movement offer? Outlaw abortions and in their mindset the problem is solved. I was living prior to Rowe and believe me abortions were illegal BUT they were still happening. The rich and connected still had access to safe abortions; only the poor, uneducated, and scared were forced to back alley butchers. All Rowe did was even the field so everyone had the same access to the same SAFE medical procedures. Repeal Rowe and we just go back to the same pre-Rowe world where the connected get their safe abortions and the rest take their chances. If you are truely pro-life your advocacy needs to start with the fetue, but also continue to their post-birth reality. Are you willing to provide for adequate nourishment, housing, educational opportunities, medical care, etc? If you are going to force the mother to give birth, then you are morally responsible for giving that child all the opportunities and financial backing they need to succeed. If not, back off!

[bmadeline-2009]

Pro-Life....Such words form war mongers.

[ejryan2]

Howcome we never hear pro-abortion people talking about abortion itself? Howcome all they talk about is choice, womens' rights, birth control, etc. ad nauseum? Oh yeah, I remember why: abortion is an ugly thing. Intentional murder of human beings is ugly, disgusting, nothing anyone would claim to support. Choice??? What about the choice of the human being whose life is ended by abortion? Get a clue.

[humansmatter]

I believe the life of every human being, including yours, is precious and deserves legal protection. No magic happens at birth that turns a non-human "thing" into a human being. All of you who favor allowing the killing of prenatal babies, and who act as if you are simply reasoning from scientific principles, tell me exactly how your birth turned you into a human being. If you were not a living human being before you were born, tell me to which species you belonged! Admit the truth: abortion kills a living human being.

[lpar26]

I was waiting at a red light behind a car that had a pro-life bumper sticker. Next to us was a woman holding up a sign "I'm homeless. Please help me feed my 6 kids." Did the pro-lifer do the "moral" thing and give her money? Of course not.

[afmca]

I work in DC and walked through Union Station where a lot of the kids who took the day off school were gathered waiting for their various rides back home. Even though in middle and high school, the children I saw were neither mature enough nor did they have enough life experience to really know the true issues that they were supposedly supporting (they were great at impeding people trying to get to their trains). They were just blindly mimicking what a teacher or religious leader had told them to spout (or better yet, it was a free day off). I really doubt that these kids (most from preppy private schools) have had to make many difficult life decisions to know what they are or are not supporting. I find the bipartisan group in Congress that is finally going to propose real legislation to deal with the #1 cause of abortion - unwanted pregnancies %u2013 really exciting. If the many legislators and citizens gets out of their fantasy land expectations and support honest *** education, unbiased abstinence education and eventually free and universally available birth control then abortion would really be a rare and last ditch medical procedure. Unfortunately if that would occur, the religious zealots would only have gay-bashing left to get all sanctimonious about.

[jimfinster]

marcodele:

Yes, I suspect most of the same anti-abortionists would also oppose our right to die at the time of our own choosing. They clearly are approaching this from a religious, "I know better than you do" position of moral crusading.

[marcodele]

It is a sincere moral issue, yes, just like the "right to die with dignity" and Christian Science in medical care of children. Should government interfere with the Christian Scientists who chose to let their child die rather than have a blood transfusion? Ditto with Jehovahs. Isn't that murder by the pro-life movement's standards? Why are they not pursuing those people?

[jimfinster]

This is a sincere moral issue for many people. Unfortunately, the Republicans have cynically used it for many years to manipulate their party members. And it has served them well.

It is hard to see it as anything but a political arguement now.

[marcodele]

The answer is always somewhere in between the extremly polarized political camps.

"is abortion wrong or not, and should it be overturned?"

Overturning Roe vs. Wade will not stop abortions.
Neither will you. If you don't like abortions, don't have one, teach your kids not to have one.
Outside of that, its really not your business what another woman does with her pregnancy.

[global_chick]

mgpm -- that's awesome about your son...he sounds like a great kid. : )