By Dave Andrusko
“The November elections left Republicans in control of both legislative chambers in 26 states and with new majorities in Wisconsin, Arkansas and Alaska. That’s emboldened abortion opponents to continue the momentum of the past two years…” — From a story that ran Wednesday in Bloomberg News.
As we’ve reported in NRL News Today, the 2013 abortion battle is up and running. Some of the fiercest preliminary skirmishes have already taken place in Virginia. (To take just one example, see here.)
And, to be fair, pro-abortionists—in addition to playing defense—are trying to carry the fight to pro-lifers. (See Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the more dead babies, the better and Pro-abortionists to make second run in Washington state at passing “Reproductive Parity Act”)
But clearly our Movement has brushed past the disappointment at the federal level in last November’s elections to take up the charge in the state legislatures. You can tell that by (a) news accounts like the Bloomberg News story; (b) the more-or-less sincere pro-abortion protestations; (c) the rallies in state capitals commemorating the 40th anniversary of the wretched Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton decisions; and (d) how busy is NRLC’s Department of State Legislation.
The Bloomberg story, written by Esmé E. Deprez and Jennifer Oldham, initially focuses a lot of attention on measures that will go nowhere. But in addition to documenting the laments of the Guttmacher Institute, the abortion Movement’s in-house think tank, the reporters make several points.
First, there IS momentum coming out of 2011 and 2012. True, pro-abortionists were able to demagogue various proposals, but pro-life measures passed anyway and, in any event, pro-lifers never give up.
Second, the nature of politics is that more substantive pro-life legislation is passed in non-election years, which is what 2013 is in all but four states.
Third, “Democrats lost a governor supportive of abortion-rights in North Carolina and legislative control in Arkansas, Wisconsin and Alaska,” Deprez and Oldham write.
Four, pro-lifers learn from one another. Obviously, each state is different, but the history of the legislative stops and starts in one state can be crucially helpful to other states contemplating the same or similar legislation.
Fifth, and finally, reflecting the breadth of our Movement, there will be a host of different initiatives. They include, but are not limited to, preventing the abortion of unborn children capable of experiencing pain, requiring that abortionists actually be in the same room as women ingest powerful abortifacients (which doesn’t happen in so-called “webcam abortions”), establishing or lengthening the period of time women are given to consider their abortion decision, various minimal abortion clinic requirements, a prohibition on sex-selective abortions, various public funding limitations, and taking advantage of the provision in ObamaCare whereby states can ban abortion in the health insurance exchanges set up by the law (17 already have).
Of course, our benighted opposition will fight every proposal, characterizing every initiative as both “anti-woman” and intended to “overturn Roe v. Wade.” But because of the strength of grassroots pro-life America, 2013 promises to be a productive year for unborn children.
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