COMPASS members are making waves; catch them by reading COMPASS News, a couple articles every week, written (mostly) by COMPASS members for (mostly) COMPASS members, to share ideas, to voice opinions, and to keep the fervor flowing.
[By Christopher Roberts, National Office Staff] On January 22, 1973, the United States Supreme Court declared that the right to privacy that existed in the "emanations of the penumbra" of the 4th amendment protects a woman's right to an abortion. Since then, there have been 45 million abortions. According to the Allan Guttmacher Institute, one of every four pregnancies in the United States end in an abortion and 40% of all women will have had an abortion at some point in their lives. It comes as no surprise that abortion is one of the most widely-practiced medical procedures in the United States.
This is today's reality. Recent trends indicate that it does not have to be tomorrow's.
According to a poll conducted in 2000 by The Los Angeles Times, 57% of all Americans believe that abortion is murder. For Pro-lifers, statistics such as these seem to indicate that forming political consensus against abortions should be a slam dunk. Thirty years of hard experience have shown that it has not been. This is because believing that abortion is murder does not translate into believing that abortion should be illegal. In the same poll, two-thirds of those polled responded that a woman and her physician should be able to decide whether or not she should have an abortion. This means that half of those who consider abortion murder also believe that decision about whether to commit murder should be left up to the woman and her doctor. This indicates that the level of conviction behind much of public opinion on abortion is relatively soft: "Yes, I believe that abortion is murder--but I am not sure enough about this view to impose it on anyone else." In other words, opposition to abortion is confined to the private sphere. If the Pro-life movement is to succeed, it is critical that this private opposition crystallizes into public opposition. Americans' confidence that abortion is murder must be strengthened.
The March for Life is one such way. For twenty nine years, the March for Life has organized an annual march to protest Roe v. Wade. Last year over 100,000 demonstrators marched. President George W. Bush delivered a telephone message to the crowd defending unborn life and outlining a vision of a country where new life is welcomed. A huge gathering such as this does two things. First, it reminds Pro-lifers that they are not alone. In the face of the dominant media it is easy to feel as if one is fighting a losing battle. Seeing tens of thousands of pro-lifers shows that this is not the case. The march boosts morale and energizes the Right to Life movement. Second, the activities that go on around the March explicate the reasons that abortion is murder. It could be as simple as talking to a fellow demonstrator about arguments against abortion. It could be as magnificent as attending the Life Mass in the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception and hearing a cardinal preach on the sanctity of life for conception to natural death.
While it is impossible to establish cause and effect relationships, there is reason to believe that the March for Life has helped turn the tide against abortion in the United States. Consider the following:
* There is a significantly greater number of voters who will not vote for a pro-abortion politician than those who will not vote for a pro-life politician.
* For the first time since 1975, there is a pro-life president and the majority party in Congress has a pro-life plank in its platform.
* It is likely that several new pro-life Supreme Court Justices will be nominated.
* The Democratic Party is considered softening its pro-abortion stance.
Now is hardly the time to slacken. Politicians who profess to be pro-life must be held accountable. If they see a record crowd of demonstrators at the March for Life this year, it will be difficult for them to forget the unborn.
