Forty years ago last week the Supreme Court declared that it
found a hitherto unknown right in the Constitution, the right to
have an abortion, no questions asked. That is, no one save the
pregnant woman could say nay.
Every anniversary since then, the “Pro-Life” forces have carried
out a March for Life on the National Mall, culminating in front of
the Supreme Court building. For years their numbers have been
growing. Although the National Park Service no longer estimates the
size of rallies on the Mall, Doug McKelway of Fox News, who has
covered a number of the events, said Friday that it looked to him
to be the largest crowd ever, probably several hundred
thousand.
At the edges of the Pro-Life crowd was a small band of
pro-abortion folks. They always call themselves “Pro Choice,”
although they seem unaware of the irony in that term. The fact is
that any woman who decides to engage in unprotected sex has made a
choice with potentially unintended consequences, an unwanted
pregnancy.
The pro-abortion folks think there should be no responsibility
to be attached to that other than opting for an abortion,
preferably paid for by the taxpayers. (This approach was extended
to the notion of taxpayer-paid contraception touted by college
student Sandra Fluke at last summer’s Democratic National
Convention. It was no fluke that Obamacare has provisions requiring
all employers to include free contraception in their health care
policies.)
The huge and impassioned throng at the March for Life heard
equally passionate speeches from such as Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky
and Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey. The event was covered by wire
services and most newspapers although the “mainstream” television
networks largely ignored it, as they usually do.
Does the March for Life move the needle of public opinion on the
subject of abortion? A new poll by the Pew Research Center shows
that 63 percent of adults oppose overturning the Roe v.
Wade decision, up from 60 percent 20 years ago.
That, however, does not mean the public wholeheartedly supports
unrestricted abortion. Far from it. A Gallup poll shows that 52
percent of the people want it to be legal under certain
circumstances, while 25 percent want no restrictions and 20 percent
want it outlawed. In the mid-nineties then-President Bill Clinton
said abortion should be “safe, legal and rare.” This was a popular
declaration although it turned out to be lip service when it came
the “rare” part.
Where the Pro-Life movement is making headway is at the state
level. Some 16 states have passed or are considering restrictions,
such as parental notice by girls under 18; and prohibiting
partial-birth abortion. (Partial-birth because the baby is out of
the womb, full formed, but the physician has not patted it on the
back to make it cry and the placenta has not been cut. A very small
number of physicians agree to kill these babies — which abortion
devotees call “Late-term abortion.” These doctors do it by
abandoning the Hippocratic oath and plunging an instrument into the
baby’s spine.)
In addition to making headway at the state level the Pro-Life
movement has found a large influx of new and young marchers. Jeanne
Monahan, president of the March for Life Education & Defense
Fund, estimated that 80 percent of the marchers last Friday were
under the age of 20. Benedictine College of Atchison, Kansas, for
example, sent seven buses filled with 400 people from its home town
on a 30-hour ride to Washington. A spokesman said this was easily
the largest delegation the college had sent in the 28 years it has
participated in the March for Life.
As the saying goes, progress often comes in inches, not great
leaps.
Photo: Patrick O’Hannigan
