In April of this year, the United States Supreme Court upheld the ban on partial-birth abortion. The abortion advocates are calling the decision the first step toward overturning Roe v. Wade. NARAL Pro-Choice America predicted that the Court has given the green light to launch additional attacks on safe, legal abortion . . . . I hope they’re right, but it isn’t going to happen anytime soon. Congress is considering appropriation bills that will continue to provide funding for Planned Parenthood, the largest provider of abortion in America, which receives over $305 million a year of our tax money. Does that sound like the end is near?

Pro-lifers are once again undercutting their efforts by in-fighting in the ranks. One side is celebrating the victory of the decision. Indeed, it is a cause for celebration that the most vicious attack on the unborn child in the process of birth has been prohibited. It is the first case in which Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito have participated, giving us a hopeful sign of their views on Roe. Justice Kennedy has not been dependably pro-life and may not be again. However, in this case, he wrote the decision affirming the legitimate interest of the state in preserving and promoting fetal life. He also addressed the post-abortion problems and pain that women suffer after abortion, referring to grief and sorrow becoming more profound when she realizes “that she allowed a doctor to pierce the skull and vacuum the fast-developing brain of her unborn child, a child assuming the human form.”

Pro-lifers on the other side say the ban won’t save the life of one child. The abortionist will just kill the baby by another equally brutal method of abortion – dilation and evacuation where the baby is removed piecemeal - in fact all abortions are brutal. That argument is true, but it ignores the educational value of the extended debate that the public has witnessed through several years of trying to achieve the ban. Polls show that the debate solidified public opinion and they consistently show that 55 % of the public oppose 98% of all abortions. Drawings of the partial-birth procedure allowed people to really see the baby, pulled feet-first from his mother’s womb and his skull punctured with scissors. Only the hardest of hearts would oppose such a ban.

Patrick Buchanan agreed that the ban doesn’t interfere with a woman’s right to have an abortion. And, in fact, Justice Kennedy stated as much. However, Buchanan commented, “Politically the court decision is portentous.” All of the Democratic candidates for President denounced the decision, while all of the Republican candidates applauded it. One thing that we can all agree on is NARAL’s comment, “The bottom line is clear: elections matter.” Elections matter because the President picks the justices of the Supreme Court. Pro-lifers should stop attacking their friends and unite against the enemies of life. The arguments are all about strategy. There isn’t only one right way to stop abortion. Every step that makes abortion less acceptable to the American people is the right way.

Mary Anne Hackett