The Failure of Our Pro-Life Leadership

LifeSiteNews ^ | 12/9/08 | Brian Rooney

[wagglebee]

December 9, 2008 (InsideCatholic.com) - I recently attended a meeting of pro-life leaders from around the country, called in order to formulate a national strategy on how to defeat the promised Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA). During the 2008 presidential campaign, President-elect Barack Obama infamously stated, to much applause, "Well, the first thing I'd do as president is, is sign the Freedom of Choice Act. That's the first thing that I'd do."

The intent here is to codify the decision in Roe v. Wade, preventing future politicians (and courts outside the Supreme Court) from giving any more power to the states to place limits on abortion. In doing so, FOCA actually goes beyond Roe, calling abortion a "fundamental right" guarded by the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution (and not just the illusory "right to privacy" created in Griswold v. Connecticut, with Roe being part of its progeny).
 
The call to action in the meeting was admirable, but in the final analysis, it spoke volumes about the pro-life leadership in our country today: It is a group completely on the defensive and has accepted Roe as a framework to work within, rather than a fight to overcome. Choosing to operate within Roe's strictures has proven to be a failed strategy, bringing us to the point where there is a real possibility of FOCA being visited upon our nation.
 
The parade of horribles (and they are truly horrible) that would follow as a result of FOCA include:
 
    * nullifying the 2003 Partial Birth Abortion Act;
    * repealing the Hyde amendment;
    * allowing abortions at military hospitals;
    * nullifying informed consent laws, parental notification laws, waiting periods, and born-alive infant protection acts;
    * forcing Catholic hospitals to perform abortions or close their doors;
    * ridding rights of conscience in various states; and much more.

Those concerned pro-life leaders from the aforementioned gathering -- as well as the bishops at the recent USCCB meeting -- are right to speak out loudly against the bill. But there remains a hitch: What we are most likely to see from Congress is not a clean bill, but one debated and compromised. That is what Congress does, and that's where the real danger is. Catholics who imprudently voted for the most pro-abortion candidate in history may also be fooled into supporting a "revised" FOCA.
 
For example, what if a revised FOCA has an exemption for religious institutions like Catholic hospitals? Would that make the bill more palatable? What about a FOCA that allows the Hyde Amendment or the Partial Birth Abortion Act to endure? Will there still be vigorous opposition if we come to see a compromised version of FOCA? Or will we hear the same tired claims made by some pro-lifers that a compromise FOCA may actually lead to fewer incidences of abortion (and since Roe is here to stay, they say, FOCA might be a good thing from the Catholic perspective).
 
No matter what form FOCA takes in its final version, it must be defeated. Retreat or compromise would only further cement the notion -- among the general public, and even many pro-life leaders -- that Roe is here to stay. In whatever form FOCA takes, it marks the end of the "incremental approach" to combating abortion that has been espoused by many mainstream pro-life leaders and organizations for the last decade or so as the only way to combat abortion. These are the same leaders who advised bishops against trying to overturn Roe, saying we did not have the votes on the Supreme Court. This "one way only" approach has led not just to the very real threat of FOCA, but to an incoming president who promises to fill our courts with pro-abortion judges. If this isn't the right time, the next couple of decades will surely be no better.
 
Pro-life leaders must reconsider the failed "incremental steps only" strategy that has done nothing to stop Roe. Their call to "wait" has produced the expected "never."
 
Brian Rooney is an attorney and spokesman at the Thomas More Law Center.

[wagglebee]

Pro-life leaders must reconsider the failed "incremental steps only" strategy that has done nothing to stop Roe. Their call to "wait" has produced the expected "never."

Very true.

[wagglebee]

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[Ken522]

Was Doug Kmic there?

[Juan Medén]

[sigh] I am afraid that with the election of this president, the possibility of ever overturning Roe vs. Wade has ended. I am heartbroken and have no idea what to do next. We will see one million children ripped from the womb each year indefinitely into the future . . . til Shiloh come.

[ari-freedom]

No, I don’t think there ever was a realistic chance of overturning Roe v Wade. If there was, it would have been overturned under Bush.

But there is another way to reduce abortion and my idea is in my profile.

[wagglebee]

Pinged from Terri Dailies

[ConorMacNessa]

The Freedom of Choice Act is just the beginning - the so-called "right to die" is fast becoming the duty to die! And we are losing on so many other fronts!

Lamh Foistenach Abu!

[Emmett McCarthy]

If our Catholic bishops had spoken out BEFORE this election instead of seeing to it that ACORN was funded with Catholic money and having 54% of the so-called “Catholic” vote go for this murdering SOB, we wouldn’t have this problem. The Church leadership has largely betrayed us and now they want to sing about defeating FOCA? Cow, barn, gone. This Catholic sees this as meaningless rhetoric from bishops who are playing one song for the flock while doing something else altogether. At best, they’re more concerned with losing their tax-exempt status than they are about speaking the truth.

[wagglebee]

I agree completely.

[ConorMacNessa]

Sadly true, E. McC.!

Lamh Foistenach Abu!

[Theodore R.]

GWB said in either 2001 or 2002 that the public did not want to halt abortion, and little has been done to do so. On that point, GWB is right. The public does want abortion, or it wouldn’t vote for abortion politicians time and again.

[Theodore R.]

I think it’s mostly just a fascination for the letter “D” for Democrat! That answers a lot of political questions in regard to the sheeple.

[Theodore R.]

It would have been overturned in 1991 had Ronald W. Reagan made sound court appointments.

[Clintonfatigued]

I wouldn’t call it a failure. The number of abortions fall every year now and the public is increasingly sympathetic to pro-life views. And just because Obama wants to pass the Freedom of Choice Act, it doesn’t mean he’ll succeed, or even make it a top priority.

[Emmett McCarthy]

Hi Conor - What I find is just how many good and true Catholics - who lovingly and patiently showed me the faith by their very lives - think the same thing that this “Prodigal Son” does. We must not be driven from the Sacrament by the deeply flawed leadership, but I will do nothing more to support their material “stuff”.

As a young man, I was foolish and rebellious so coming to this point for me was fraught with self-doubt. The fact that so many whose lives of faith I respect agree is a great comfort and validation. Thank you.

[deannadurbin]

In my neighborhood I am constantly amazed: the VERY SAME HOMES that had Obama/Biden lawn signs on them just a few weeks ago now have NATIVITY SCENES with Baby Jesus on the lawns!!!

Catholics went for Barack Insane Obama by 57%. If THAT isn’t a sign of terrible terrible deep apostacy and hypocrisy I don’t know what is.

[Emmett McCarthy]

As a CHURCH we’d be better off without the tax-exempt status and with about half of those who currently call themselves “Catholics”. The foolish and short-sighted part is that, if the bishops really believed and told the truth and the feds tried to pull the tax-exempt status, I believe the Church would win anyway. So, the question is are the bishops foolish and short-sighted or are they hypocrites?

[pray4liberty]

I predict Catholic hospitals will turn themselves into nursing facilities, rather than close down. The long-term plan is to make all health care secular. The Catholic Church should be onto them by now and not allow this to happen.

[pray4liberty]

Catholics went for Barack Insane Obama by 57%. If THAT isn’t a sign of terrible terrible deep apostacy and hypocrisy I don’t know what is.

Jesus has it all written down in his Books of Life. This election has revealed who has stayed faithful to Him, who has compromised Him, and who has deserted Him for another Messiah.