Partial Birth Abortion Ban Travesty

This past month, five WND pieces have run regarding our widely-publicized open letters to Dr. James Dobson in which we document the 30-year failure of the pro-life movement. Long ago, National Right To Life devised a strategy of introducing laws to regulate child-killing, and now in order to defend those immoral tactics, many of our greatest Christian leaders have adopted the secular humanist principle of moral relativism. The bad fruit of all this is a federal judiciary stacked with Republican pro-choice judges who reject the personhood of the child, and who issue murderous rulings celebrated by pro-life leaders.

Focus on the Family's Tom Minnery wrote (In defense of Dr. Dobson, June 7, 2007, WND) that, "my boss, Dr. James Dobson, praised the [partial-birth abortion] ruling on the grounds that it will save the lives of preborn children. He was attacked ferociously by a small group of pro-lifers who say the ruling did no such thing."

Four days later, Dr. Dobson himself acknowledged this claim of ours, in his monthly email message, that "Ending partial-birth abortion. does not save a single human life" ( family.org). Under the pressure brought by our full-page open letters, other major pro-life leaders and organizations have been making the same concession. As reported in WND by Bob Unruh ( War of words targets James Dobson , June 7, 2007), there is "the fact that the legal [PBA] ruling, itself, does not and cannot be used to proscribe [prohibit] a single abortion."

Mr. Minnery characterized our open letter as a ferocious attack on Dr. Dobson, yet we actually wrote:

"Dr. Dobson. You have led many people to trust in Jesus Christ, so it is with love and great sadness that we admonish you. . We want to follow your lead, Dr. Dobson, but not in the direction you now head. We want to follow the standard in the pledge you made before hundreds of thousands at the Rally for Life in Washington D.C. in 1990, to never support any effort that will intentionally 'kill one innocent baby.'"

The New Testament Epistles are open letters, which admonish believers who have erred, including some by name, and including even well-known leaders like Barnabas and Peter (see Galatians 2). Those defending Dr. Dobson have been dishonest about the PBA ruling and can't address the substance of our Open Letter or the ruling itself, but instead try to discredit us for exposing the truth. We are sure that Dr. Dobson would reject the suggestion that he is above criticism. The signers of the open letters include stalwarts of the pro-life movement such as Judie Brown of American Life League, the Rev. Tom Euteneuer of Human Life International which operates in 80 countries from 99 offices, our own Colorado Right To Life which preceded National RTL, and the Rev. Flip Benham, director of the world's most well-known anti-abortion activist group, Operation Save America/Operation Rescue.

As we continue to publish our open letters in major newspapers like the Washington Times and conservative publications like Human Events, pro-life leaders are asking to add their names to the list of the original fifteen who condemn the recent PBA ruling as wicked. Why? Since it was introduced fifteen years ago, the partial-birth abortion ban as a fundraiser has brought in 250 million dollars to the pro-life industry; as a ban it never had the authority to save a single innocent child.

Last month, forty floors above National Right To Life's annual convention in Kansas City Missouri, we hosted a hospitality suite at the Hyatt Regency for NRTL members. We documented the hundreds of pro-life activists and leaders who spent hours with us, who were devastated to learn that they were misled about the PBA "victory," which requires only a four-inch variation in the gruesome technique of killing the partially-born child. In Gonzales v. Carhart, the so-called "pro-life Justices" produced a virtual manual instructing abortionists on how to perform legal partial-birth abortions using what they call "reasonable alternative procedures" (p. 33), grotesquely ruling that "the removal of a small portion ['say, an arm or leg'] of the fetus is not prohibited" (p. 22).

This evil ruling imposes greater suffering on the unborn and is more brutally wicked than standard PBA. Those celebrating this murderous ruling grope in the dark for justification, claiming as Mr. Minnery does that, now, "it will be nearly impossible for abortionists to run to federal court" ... "without real facts and circumstances." However, back in 1973, when the Supreme Court presumably would require "real people in real circumstances," Roe v. Wade and its companion case, Doe v. Bolton were rendered based upon the lies of the emerging child-killing industry. According to WND's own reporting, "Both [Sandra] Cano and [Norma] McCorvey are attempting to overturn the two abortion cases that bear their names, each claiming their case was based on fraud" ( Supremes to reconsider landmark abortion case, Sept. 29, 2006, WND).

Nothing of substance has changed. Judges and abortionists who reject a child's God-given right to life have a limitless capacity to embrace lies. Pro-life activists led the women of Roe and Doe to repentance, and can possibly lead the nation to repentance, but not by misrepresentations or with the moral relativist strategy of regulating child killing. As long as conservatives defend and nominate judges who reject personhood, we will continue to kill another unborn child every minute. The National Right To Life humanist strategy of regulating child-killing violates God's enduring command, Do not murder, and it drags Christian leaders into the sewer of secular humanism and moral relativism.

Forty years ago, Colorado's Republican Governor John Love signed America's first permissive abortion law for rape, incest and health. Now, Colorado Right To Life has joined a growing national pro-life coalition in hopes that we can lead the way out of the wilderness. Please consider both sides of the debate by reading for yourself our open letter to Dr. Dobson, and please commit yourself to never compromise on God's command, Do not murder!

Sadly I must remind Mr. Minnery and the others praising this ruling that the only "vicious attack" is on the children who are murdered through abortion. And to those who say that we offer criticism but no suggestions I invite you to read the WND article from July 6 ,2007 "Matters of Life and Death. The CRTL board has endorsed this personhood proposal because it can end abortion without authorizing some to be murdered in order to try to save others. I remain available to debate any of these fine columnists on this life and death issue.

Brian Rohrbough is president of Colorado Right To Life. Seven years after Brian's son Danny Rohrbough was murdered at Columbine High School, he became the president of their state's largest pro-life group, ColoradoRightToLife.org. Rohrbough takes it personally when people advocate the killing of innocent children. He is a nationally recognized leader in the effort to legitimately end abortion without compromise.

It is unfair to criticize the 4 conservatives on the SCOTUS. They would have overruled Roe if Kennedy was on board. But he wasn't, so they did the best they could do under the circumstances. It also starts to lay the groundwork for overruling it eventually, should we get one more true conservative.

I want abortion stopped as much as anyone. But what options do we have other than fighting within the system? Honestly, these pro-life leaders are not saying that the PBA ruling is the end of the discussion. They just recognize that the tide seems to be turning. There is nothing wrong with that.

We also need our elected leaders to stand up and declare that unborn children are persons under the law. Force the issue every which way we can. I actually think Kennedy may come around if the definition of person included unborn children under federal law. The influence of Roberts and Alito will also help.

also remember that pragmatic considerations prevented the 2 new justices from making broad sweeping declarations to overrule lots of precedent, even though they practically gashed much of it in this past term.

If Bush gets one more appointment, nobody can claim that Roberts and Alito are extreme activists. I think they want to get one more vote before the revolution begins. We must win the war, but not necessarily every battle.

This is just my opinion. I think there is a lot going on, and Roberts is a very calculating individual. He has yet to give me a reason not to trust him.

If we were trying to hide my involvement we wouldn’t have
put out this press release:

Published on Colorado Right to Life (http://www.coloradorighttolife.org)
Colorado Right To Life Kicked Out of National RTL

PREVIOUS RELEASE
June 13, 2007

Colorado Right To Life Kicked Out of National RTL
Two Days After Dr. James Dobson Concedes
“Ending partial-birth abortion... does not save a single human life.”

Today in Kansas City Missouri, National Right to Life’s board of directors voted to disenfranchise a state chapter, Colorado Right To Life, from the umbrella organization. Two days ago, Dr. James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, admitted in a mass email [1] that, “Ending partial-birth abortion... does not save a single human life.” An unusually-public feud erupted within the movement after CRLT co-signed a series of open letters to Dr. James Dobson exposing that the Gonzales v Carhart U.S. Supreme Court ruling on partial-birth abortion (PBA) is not even a hollow victory for anti-abortionists.

An Open Letter published in the Colorado Springs Telegraph Gazette on May 23 began a barrage of criticism leveled at National Right To Life, Focus on the Family, and other industry groups for fraudulent fundraising in support of the PBA ban. WorldNetDaily.com (WND), a conservative, editorially pro-life online news outlet reported [2] on June 7, “the fact that the legal [PBA] ruling, itself, does not and cannot be used to proscribe [prohibit] a single abortion.” Another concession to the Open Letter coalition came from the Thomas More Society’s Pro-Life Law Center. The partial-birth abortion ban is “not going to stop any abortions as such,” said [3] TMS counsel Paul Linton who authored briefs submitted to the Supreme Court in support of the PBA ban, “They’re still going to take place by other means.”

Dr. Dobson released his June 2007 Action e-mail on Monday, and on Tuesday, a National RTL committee voted to remove state affiliation from its Colorado Right To Life chapter, CRTL being one of the pro-life organizations which has broken ranks with the movement’s larger groups and is exposing the PBA fundraising irregularities.

Now that the 15-year battle to outlaw partial-birth abortion has ended with a ban and a ruling that have no authority to save a single life, CRTL’s public rebuke is leading to frequent pro-life industry concessions such as in this Washington Post excerpt [4]: “Chuck Donovan, executive vice president of the Family Research Council, a Washington advocacy group allied with Dobson, said... “there are certainly a fair number of people, including in our own building, who think... that, practically, there may not be even one fewer abortion in the country as a result.” And according [5] to WND, “the ban on partial-birth abortion is meaningless as it relates to the actual killing of unborn children,” if the assessment of Life Dynamics [6]‘ Mark Crutcher is correct. “In the final analysis... [the PBA ban’s] practical implications for the unborn are zero,” said Crutcher.

“We will tell the truth that National Right To Life doesn’t want told,” said Brian Rohrbough, president of Colorado Right To Life, “that NRTL advocates a strategy of child-killing regulations that undermine personhood and distract from the real battle.” And Leslie Hanks, V.P. of Colorado Right To Life added, “As a fundraiser, partial-birth abortion has brought in hundreds of millions of dollars, but as a way to save lives, it has no authority to save a single child.” Discussions of new affiliation are underway between CRTL and another principled pro-life organization fighting for the personhood of the pre-born.

Contact: Leslie Hanks
V.P. Colorado RTL
720-394-8946

Source URL:
http://www.coloradorighttolife.org/news/2007/06/colorado-right-life-kicked-out-national-rtl
Links:
[1] http://www.focusaction.org/Articles/A000000246.cfm
[2] http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/printer-friendly.asp?ARTICLE_ID=56057
[3] http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/printer-friendly.asp?ARTICLE_ID=56057
[4] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/03/AR2007060301218.html
[5] http://www.wnd.com/redir/r.asp?http://www.lifedynamics.com/Pro-life_Group/Prolife_Organization/
[6] http://www.wnd.com/redir/r.asp?http://www.lifedynamics.com/Pro-life_Group/Prolife_Organization/

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