Keeping the Status Quo

The following commentary was authored by the American Life League President, Judie Brown. I offer it here because I agree largely with the sentiment it expresses:

Many pro-life groups are gleefully declaring victory following George W. Bush's apparent re-election, but I cannot share in their enthusiasm. It is true that Mr. Bush defeated one of the most solidly pro-abortion candidates to ever seek the White House. However, the Bush administration's first term has been less than sterling in terms of total commitment to the pro-life effort.

Let us not forget the only record that matters: whether a Republican or Democrat has been working in the Oval Office, during each four-year presidential term in recent memory, between 4 and 5 million babies have been slaughtered by surgical abortion, and countless others died as the result of chemical abortions and in the science lab. The killing continued unabated during Mr. Bush's first term, and indications are that abortion on demand will remain decriminalized during the coming four years.

Thus the status quo on abortion is going to be maintained, as will the ongoing public perception that we have a pro-life president. Organizations such as the National Right to Life Committee and Priests for Life now will focus on the Supreme Court. However, the justices will never focus on the true issue - personhood - unless they accept the proper case. Even in the unlikely event that Roe v Wade is overturned, the abysmal fact is that this would only return regulation of abortion to each state, which would do nothing to guarantee the protection of preborn children.

The malaise that will accompany Mr. Bush's re-election, I fear, will eat away at the edges of the pro-life battle without generating a clear victory for the personhood of every innocent human being. The definition of what it means to be pro-life will take another hit. Due to decay from within, this could spell the end of what we have known as the pro-life movement.

Mr. Bush is educable. He could learn that all abortions are bad, not just "partial-birth" abortions. He could learn there is no reason to excuse abortions in alleged cases of rape, incest, threat to the mother's life, or fetal deformity. He could pressure Congress to support personhood by passing the Right to Life Act. It is the responsibility of every pro-life leader to take whatever steps are needed to provide this education and cease patting Mr. Bush on the back until he adopts a true pro-life position. The babies are waiting.