Friday, January 22, 2016

Turning The Corner?

On this day in 1973, the United State Supreme Court, by identical 7-2 margins, rendered their opinion on two cases.

The country has not been the same since.

In their rulings on Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, they overturned as unconstitutional laws which made having an abortion illegal. In doing that, they also removed any restrictions on when or why one could be procured.

It is now 43 years since those decisions. The divide between those who are pro-life and those who are poor-(pro-)choice is as wide as it has ever been. While I am hopeful these decisions will be overturned in my lifetime, it is clear to me this battle front in the Culture Wars is the most critical one to be won.

It seems in the past 12 months the pro-life forces have a new spear point, the sharpest one they have ever had. With the release of tapes by The Center for Medical Progress, seemingly supplementing the investigations of Live Action years ago, showing employees of Planned Parenthood speaking of an illegal selling of fetal parts. The uproar is still loud; the actions being undertaken, significant. The scrutiny of the subject is the most intense that has even been seen.

(By the way, have you forgotten about the trial of Dr. Kermit Gosnell? I hope not. I wonder if that was the motivation for the CMP's investigation.)

Evil is now out there for all to see, even more graphic (in terms of visible) than the Silent Scream videos of the late 1970s. And those who support this atrocity are feeling the heat even more. It may be becoming more difficult to defend.

Not really. Both sides are still arguing past each other. The poor-(pro-)choice folks rationale is based not on rational thought, but irrational feeling. And in an era where "feelings" are the bottom line on how one makes a decision, where objective reality takes a back seat to subjective experience, where "I think; therefore, I am not" is the philosophical grounding of their position, this is going to continue to be a stalemate in the short term.

The pro-life side realizes this. The mantra of "changing hearts and minds" attacks both sides of the equation and lays the foundation for success in the long run. And it is working, as minutely incremental as those gains are.

The pro-life side, in their rallies across the United States and especially their "March For Life" in Washington, DC (even braving a severe, major winter storm this time around), is reminding the country (and to a certain extent the world) why this important.

Life matters.

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Allow me to share some post which traveled across my Facebook page today:

The bond between mother and child is defended.
How much "sense" abortion makes.
Somebody who made my points better than I.
A "State of the Cause" report.
Abortion=Women's Inequality.
The basic meaning of "Choose Life".
The 58-59,000,000 Life Question.

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