A Moral Horror

  The U.S. Senate is expected to vote Wednesday on the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act—a bill that would outlaw an especially barbaric form of abortion. I can already imagine some of you beginning to yawn—after all, don't we go through the same procedure every year? The House and Senate approve the ban, the president vetoes it, and we don't have enough votes to override the veto. So what's the point? It's understandable that you might feel this way—but it's dead wrong to give in to these feelings. We MUST keep fighting this battle, year after year, win or lose. Remember, the polls are showing that, while we may be loosing some battles, we ARE winning the abortion war. The public debate over partial birth abortion has forced the public to face a procedure so gruesome, so heinous, that no matter what their views are on abortion, most people are repulsed by it. I believe the debate over this horrific procedure is having an effect on American attitudes towards legalized abortion. The latest polls show that almost half the public now side with the pro-life cause. Support for the pro-choice position is slipping. For example, in a recent survey of UCLA coeds—highly-educated young women the abortion lobby considers its own—revealed that nearly 50 percent of them think abortion should NOT be legal. Finally, the number of abortions being performed in America has dropped 15 percent since 1990—and that's been during the reign of the most pro-abortion president in history. Don't anyone tell me we can't make a difference. Clearly, we're winning over the next generation. And it's not just the young we're influencing. Consider the case of New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman, a liberal Republican who two years ago vetoed a partial birth abortion ban. Her veto created such an uproar that she began to examine what was at issue here—and she has changed her mind. Gov. Whitman is now supporting a ban on post-viability abortions. It's a step in the right direction, and it shows that if you keep pressing your case, even if you don't achieve total victory, you slowly win people over. This is a lesson I learned long ago from one of my personal heroes, the great British abolitionist William Wilberforce. Two centuries ago, Wilberforce mounted a campaign against slavery. For twenty years, he brought to parliament bills outlawing the slave trade. Almost invariably, his bills were shot down. But Wilberforce didn't get discouraged. He kept fighting, because his conscience would not let him give up. And the fiery debates woke people up to the barbarism of slavery. Eventually, he won over enough members to win in Parliament. You and I have to keep fighting, too, because abortion is the great moral issue of OUR day. We have to keep speaking out, because partial birth abortion is a moral horror. Not speaking out about against it is the same thing as condoning it. It's true that we've suffered setbacks both in the courts and with a president who is adamantly pro- abortion. But I for one believe Roe v. Wade is going to be reversed if we just keep fighting. So please—once again—pick up your phone and call your senators. Urge them in the strongest terms to support the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act. We mustn't loose heart. We MUST win this battle. To ignore this issue now would be to retreat at the very moment the tide is turning toward protection of the most helpless members of our society: Innocent babies.

10/14/99