Dear Colleague:
Let us give you a quick take on the elections from our perspective here in
Washington. And wish you a Happy Thanksgiving.
Steven W. Mosher
President
PRI Weekly Briefing
22 November 2006
Vol. 8, No. 46
Pro-Life Victories to be Won
By Steven W. Mosher
The National Abortion Rights Action League may brag that it helped to
elect 18 new pro-abortion congressmen and a couple of new pro-abortion
senators, but the shift in Congress is not as lopsided as it wants to
pretend. A number of new pro-life congressmen--some of them
Democrats--have been elected as well, so we will be reaching out to them.
One key issue for us is the confirmation of pro-life Supreme Court
justices. There is little doubt that Democratic control of the Senate
makes for tough sledding for President Bush's judicial picks. But all is
not gloom and doom. If another vacancy occurs on the Supreme Court during
Bush's last two years in office, the odds are good that another Roberts or
Alito can be confirmed. The addition of another pro-life vote on the
nation's highest court may seal the fate of Roe v. Wade.
Why do I think so? Think back to the bitter confirmation battle over
Clarence Thomas' nomination in 1991. At the time, the Senate had 57
Democrats and only 43 Republicans. The "high-tech lynching" that greeted
Thomas did not prevent 11 Democrats from voting for his confirmation. The
final vote was 52-48.
The four Democrat senators who voted for Sam Alito last year-Byrd, Conrad,
Johnson, and Ben Nelson-could easily vote for a strong pro-life nominee.
Then there are the red state Democrats running for re-election in 2008.
It seems to me that Montana's Baucus, Louisiana's Mary Landrieu, and
Arkansas' David Pryor may hesitate to attack a strong, pro-life candidate.
Then there's Senator-Elect Bob Casey of Pennsylvania who, unless he
completely betrays his father's pro-life legacy, should vote for
confirmation.
Where the election does make a difference is in our battle to get the
population controllers and pro-abortion advocates defunded. Now it looks
like we'll be mostly playing defense, hoping to cut off a Planned
Parenthood affiliate here or a questionable program there.
There are still pro-life victories to be won. As we give thanks to God
for the many blessings He has bestowed upon this land, we will be asking
for guidance as to how to win them.
Happy Thanksgiving.
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The pro-life Population Research Institute is dedicated to ending human
rights abuses committed in the name of "family planning," and to ending
counter-productive social and economic paradigms premised on the myth of
"overpopulation."