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National Catholic Register
October 31 - November 6, 1999
"Overcoming the Darkness"

The U.S. Senate, in a 63-34 vote, once again made its view on partial-birth abortion clear: The frightening practice should be outlawed.

The often-repeated details of the gruesome procedure are numbing: An almost full-term baby is partially pulled from her mother's womb and stabbed in the skull with scissors. The baby's brains are then vacuumed out to allow an easier delivery of the body.

The Oct. 21 Senate vote is good news (despite the fact that a later, nonbinding vote showed support for Roe v. Wade). For one thing, it shows that new Sens. Evan Bayh, R-Ind., and Blanche Lambert Lincoln, D-Ark., can be counted on to vote against the procedure.

Yet a black cloud looms over any pro-life victory celebration. President Clinton and vice President Al Gore are both committed to keeping the grisly practice legal. Clinton has pledged to veto the Partial Birth Abortion Act of 1999, and a Senate override of a veto is unlikely.

"There's no such thing as partial birth," argued Sen. Barbara Boxer on the floor of the Senate. A baby's rights begin "when you bring your baby home," the California Democrat added.

The notion that an infant's right don't begin until she's at home seems odd.  But then nothing is too odd nowadays in a country that re-elected a president who vetoed the partial-birth abortion ban twice before. Certainly, the rights-begin-at-home-and-not-before argument would appeal to institutions such as Christ Hospital in the Chicago area. There, a nurse recently revealed that babies are starved or asphyxiated in what the hospital euphemistically calls "therapeutic abortions."

Evil this deep requires much prayer and sacrifice to combat it. A call or letter to your senators and congressman would also help. Let them know that partial-birth aboriton has no place in this one nation under God.

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St. George Pro-Life | Parkview Christian Church