Thirty-four years after the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decisions Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton brought unfettered access to abortion, pro-life advocates expressed their unfailing dedication to fight for women, the preborn and all human life from conception to natural death.
Nikolas T. Nikas, president and general counsel of the Bioethics Defense Fund, said the "brutal fact" is that more than 44 million babies have been aborted since 1973.
"Can we honestly expect things to change when so many lives have been lost, so many families affected, so many legal battles and legislative arguments made and ignored?" he said. "The answer is a resounding 'yes.' "
And he's right. Across the nation, as people recognize Sanctity of Human Life Week this week, they are celebrating pro-life advances at the state and federal levels through parental-notification laws; abstinence education; crisis-pregnancy programs; the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act; the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act; and the Unborn Victims of Violence Act. At the same time, they're asking the 110th Congress to pass more laws that protect life.
On Saturday, more than 25,000 people joined in the annual Walk for Life West Coast in San Francisco.
Vera Lord, who had an abortion when she was 34, is now a national pro-life speaker and was at the event.
"The dirty little secret behind what they call 'choice' is that the baby isn’t the only one who dies; part of our souls dies, too," she told the Christian Post. "We must make abortion not just illegal, but unthinkable."
President Bush spoke today -- via telephone -- to tens of thousands of people who came to Washington, D.C., for the March for Life. He recognized those who have tirelessly worked to pass laws that protect the preborn and build a culture of life.
"I want the folks assembled there to know that we're making progress," he said. "We promoted adoption, supported parental-notification laws, ended federal funding for abortions overseas and are funding crisis-pregnancy centers.
"I had the privilege of signing legislation that extends legal protection to children who are born despite abortion attempts. I signed into law a ban on the cruel practice of partial-birth abortions, and we will vigorously defend that law in the courts."
Bush said embryonic humans at risk of being destroyed for their stem cells deserve protection, as well.
"Our challenge is to make sure that science serves the cause of humanity instead of the other way around," he said. "I have made it clear to the Congress we must pursue medical advances in the name of life, not at the expense of it."
Carrie Gordon Earll, senior policy analyst for bioethics at Focus on the Family Action, said while Congress has made some progress, lawmakers have an obligation to continue to ensure that all life is protected.
"Leaders and members of the 110th Congress face a choice," she said. "Will they be remembered as one of the most anti-life Congresses in recent history or will they take the high moral road and pass meaningful legislation that affirms the value of young human life?"
Lawmakers have the opportunity, Earll said, to make adoption tax relief permanent, to encourage childbirth over abortion and to prevent U.S. taxpayer dollars from being used to promote abortion.
But while the members of Congress, state legislatures and the Supreme Court will change through the years, she said, "the pro-life movement will remain constant in its faithful determination to be a voice for life -- born and preborn.”
(Paid for by Focus on the Family Action)
