February 24-March 1, 2008 Issue |
Posted 2/19/08 at 12:41 PM
Between cursing the darkness and lighting a candle, we all
know which is the right choice.
Yet every year on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, one hears
grumbling about the lack of progress in overturning that decision in its
entirety.
True, the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1992 decision in Planned
Parenthood v. Casey did change much of Roe. That includes Roe’s trimester
framework, its characterization of abortion as a “fundamental” right, and its
rigorous strict scrutiny test — all of those are now gone as a result of Casey,
making it easier now to regulate abortion. Yet, disappointingly, Casey left
intact Roe’s rule forbidding an abortion ban before viability, or after
viability when done for health reasons.
And so, people ask: Why, after 35 years of effort, is this
part of Roe still the law?
Frustration and impatience over the high court stalemate is
understandable. There’s no room for complacency while the abortion death toll
grows every hour of every day. Imagine that a plague took the lives of every
U.S. teen now in grades 10 through 12. That’s how many unborn children have
died from abortion since 1973. And no one familiar with the grief and pain of
mothers and fathers after abortion could bear for even one parent more to
experience such a tragic loss.
Instead of grumbling, would it not make more sense to make a
Lenten commitment to light one (or hundreds) of the thousands of candles
waiting to be lit? Support or undertake one of the many proven ways we can help
save children’s lives now which also will help create conditions that will move
the Court to topple the already decaying framework of Roe.
The U.S. Catholic bishops’ Pastoral Plan for Pro-Life
Activities provides a blueprint for pro-life activities at every level of the
Church. The campaign to end abortion and promote the dignity of life at
every stage involves four vital approaches: prayer, education, pastoral care
and public advocacy.
Miracles happen.
Through personal and organized prayer (e.g., Rosaries for
life, novenas, holy hours for life with adoration and Benediction), through
fasting and daily sacrifices “offered up,” as Pope Benedict suggests in his
2007 encyclical Spe Salvi (On Christian hope), we can expect miraculous changes
of heart in abortion-minded women and men. Prayer in front of abortion
businesses is a powerful witness to life. Last fall, more than 80 communities
in 33 states joined in the “40 Days for Life” campaign, and organizers report
that the lives of more than 350 children have been spared to date as a result
of this campaign.
Education focused particularly on the humanity of the child
from conception through birth, on the extreme nature of the abortion license,
and on its physical and mental health risks for women have been shown to be
particularly effective in moving public attitudes toward life.
Pastoral care, available through more than 3,500 pregnancy
resource centers nationwide and parish-based programs like the Gabriel Project,
are making adoption and parenting possible for thousands of women every year.
Public advocacy: It is well known that elected
representatives are influenced by the views of their constituents. So let your
state and federal representatives know how you feel about abortion-related
legislation. If you’re uncertain how to do this, the National Committee for a
Human Life Amendment can help. Simple, effective ways to contact elected
representatives are described at nchla.org.
Public debate and passage of reasonable, popular state laws
restricting abortion to the maximum extent permitted under Roe, in light of
Casey and Gonzales v. Carhart (the 2007 decision upholding the federal ban on
partial-birth abortion), can accomplish three important objectives: 1) Move
more undecided and pro-choice people into the pro-life camp. 2) Create a clear
state trend that may influence the Supreme Court’s future deliberations. 3)
Save lives now, while we prepare for the reversal of what remains of Roe.
Listed below are just some of the state laws that can help
change the legal and jurisprudential landscape. Many of these measures have
already been shown to save the lives of unborn children:
• a law requiring that abortion providers offer women the
opportunity to view an ultrasound of her unborn child,
• a strong parental notice or parental consent law. Studies
have shown that the abortion rate of minor girls decreases up to 42% after
state enforcement of a parental involvement law,
• a strong informed consent law (with a waiting period that
allows for reflection). The typical 24-hour waiting period in the U.S.
contrasts with waiting periods in European countries, often ranging from 5 to 7
days. What should be included in informed consent? Specific information on the
child’s stage of development, how the abortion procedure will be done, whether
the child can feel pain, abortion alternatives and proven risks to the mother —
physical complications (17% in one large study), miscarriages and preterm
births in subsequent pregnancies, placenta previa, breast cancer, increased
risks of anxiety, depression, drug and alcohol abuse, suicide attempts and
suicides. The woman should be asked to initial each listed item to better
ensure that she has read them.
• restrictions on the following: government funding of
abortion, on allowing abortions in public hospitals, and on allowing abortion
clinics to participate in publicly-funded health care programs,
• clinic regulations, with funding for clinic inspectors, to
protect the health of patients. Abortions decreased 60% in Mississippi in the
1990s, following enactment of informed consent legislation and the revocation
of one abortionist’s license for falsifying the records of patients he had
harmed.
• strengthened reporting and recordkeeping requirements on
the part of abortion providers,
• a state law similar to the federal “Pregnant Women Support
Act” bill providing supportive services for pregnant and parenting women
(college students and low-income women) and their children so none will feel
that abortion is her only choice,
• a state law against coercing or pressuring a girl or woman
to have an abortion,
• fetal homicide laws modeled after the federal Unborn
Victims of Violence Act, which recognizes the violent killing of an unborn
child in a non-abortion context as a homicide. (The federal law applies only
where the violent act against a pregnant woman is a federal crime.),
• laws forbidding health insurers in the state to
incorporate abortion into their “basic benefit” packages, so they could provide
such coverage only if the individual or family requests it and pays a separate
premium for it,
• state legislation or regulations to implement the “unborn
child coverage” option under the federal Children’s Health Insurance Program
(CHIP), to provide health care for both mother and child while recognizing the
unborn child as a patient deserving prenatal care. Fourteen states now have
this option in effect, and
• publicly-funded campaigns to promote adoption and to discourage
abortion.
Where there is popular support, states can also enact two
bolder measures to ensure that abortion is prohibited to the extent permitted
under federal law:
1. States could amend their constitution to provide that
nothing in the state constitution creates a right to abortion and that unborn
human life shall be protected to the maximum degree permitted under the U.S.
Constitution.
2. States can amend their constitution or statutes, as
appropriate, to provide that abortion is prohibited and that this state ban
will take effect immediately, and to the extent permitted, upon the occurrence
of any of the following: any decision of the U.S. Supreme Court which reverses,
in whole or part, Roe v. Wade, or the adoption of an amendment to the U.S. Constitution
which, in whole or part, restores to the states the authority to prohibit
abortion.
No one step listed above is a magic bullet that will end the
regime of Roe overnight, and some will have a greater impact than others. But
every step we take will help pave the way toward complete protection of human
life from conception to natural death.
Susan Wills is associate director for education for the U.S.
bishops’ Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities.
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