President’s Report  (Winter 2001)
A New Administration! A New Hope!

Thirty-four days after Americans cast their vote for President, after hordes of lawyers and numerous court cases, the U.S. Supreme Court intervened to uphold the authority of the Secretary of State of Florida to certify the votes. She did. George W. Bush won the election (as he had won every recount) and so did the babies!

In his campaign and in his inaugural address, he promised to work to restore respect for human life, including the rights of the unborn to be welcomed in life and protected in law.
One of his first acts as President was to reinstate the Mexico City policy restricting funds from going to organizations that perform or refer for abortions here or abroad.

(The media described this as pandering to the far right. When Clinton used executive orders to strike down the Mexico City Policy, the ban on fetal experimentation and facilitated the quick approval of RU-486 on the day of the March for Life in 1993, the media described it as fulfilling his campaign promises!)

President Bush’s appointment of Governor Tommy Thompson to Health and Human Services was a positive pro-life appointment. Thompson said he would investigate the safety of RU-486. People who care about women should welcome such an investigation.
Finally, in the first week of his Administration, President Bush said he opposed the use of federal funds for stem cell research on aborted fetuses.

All of these are important issues for the pro-life movement and we should be grateful for a good beginning - a series of first steps to begin to turn back the horrible holocaust of abortion in America. I believe we can be confident that President Bush will sign a ban on partial-birth abortion, that there is a real possibility of passage of the born-alive baby bill and a ban on fetal research. But we must not forget the part each of us must play to accomplish the restoration of the sanctity of human life - the culture of life.

We must pray daily for the Bush Administration and, of course, for an end to abortion. We must continue to contact our senators and representatives to support pro-life legislation. But there is only so much the President can do. The rest of us must do our job. As George W. Bush said in his inaugural address: we must not sit on the sidelines; we have to participate as citizens in the work of our government. That means you and me. The babies depend on us and ultimately all of our lives are at stake. We cannot fail.

                                                                            Mary Anne Hackett