Abortion Foes Claim New Momentum

Thousands of abortion opponents trudged up Capitol Hill to the Supreme Court once again Friday in the annual ritual known as the March for Life. But on this, the 37th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, there were signs they were marching with a renewed sense of direction. "This is an exciting time to be in the pro-life movement," said Charmaine Yoest, president of Americans United for Life, which organized a "Virtual March for Life" of more than 75,000 avatars to join the actual throng on the National Mall. "A year ago, we were facing unprecedented opposition, seeing the most pro-abortion president ever elected, sweeping in his allies in the House and Senate. And yet through it all, a year later the pro-life movement is really at a high-water mark."Last year's march was the first since 1995 in which the opponents of abortion rights found themselves without an ally in the White House or at the helm on Capitol Hill. They still lack friends in leadership but all in all, this hasn't been a bad stretch for the anti-abortion crowd.

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Activists participate in the annual "March for Life" event as they walk toward the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on Friday.John Green, a University of Akron political scientist, said that after a decade during which public opinion on abortion held very steady, several polls noted a slight change in 2009. While a majority still favor abortion rights, Gallup found more Americans describing themselves as "pro-life" than "pro-choice" for the first time."There's been a shift," Green said. "It's likely because of the election of President Obama. A lot of people thought he would be strongly pro-choice and because they were perhaps in the middle, that led them to move more in the pro-life direction." He added that optimism among abortion-rights advocates turned into complacency. And now it's clear the issue isn't anywhere near the top of the president's agenda.Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, was among those who were "much more hopeful" as Obama entered office. The new president did move early to restore funding to international family planning groups that provide abortion. And he later called for a cease-fire and more "fair-minded words" in the debate during a speech at Catholic Notre Dame in which he was heckled.But two weeks later, one of the few doctors in the country who performed late-term abortions, George Tiller, was gunned down at his church in Kansas. On Friday, the trial of the man accused in the killing began in Wichita. In a stunning article in the February issue of GQ, Scott Roeder candidly tells writer Devin Friedman how he planned what he called the "righteous" killing.Tiller's clinic closed after his death, and others are fighting to stay open amid mounting legal restrictions. According to the Guttmacher Institute, 18 states enacted a total of 34 laws related to abortion last year. The measures ranged from mandated counseling to waiting periods and ultrasounds for women seeking abortions to allowing "Choose Life" license plates."This is a very enjoined battle," said Northup, whose group tracks hundreds of anti-abortion bills in state capitals and last year filed five lawsuits against what it sees as the most egregious. "There is a relentless anti-choice activism in this country that looks for every opportunity" to inject the abortion issue into public policy, she said.At the moment, health care reform is Exhibit A. The effort is now stalled on Capitol Hill following the election of "41st senator" Scott Brown of Massachusetts – who supports abortion rights, albeit with limits. But if a deal ever is brokered between the House and Senate versions, one of the biggest sticking points remains the issue of taxpayer-funded abortion."Abortion is a roadblock to bills like health care reform. There's no getting around it," said University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato.For Northup, the health care bill is "another disappointing sign that abortion remains stigmatized. ...Making abortion services out of reach, whether financially or physically, is a betrayal of Roe v. Wade's promise of freedom and equality for women."Despite one poll that showed more Massachusetts voters went to the polls motivated to save health reform, on the morning after Brown's election about a dozen anti-abortion protesters greeted Senate staffers as they made their way to work. They held signs saying, "Save your careers! Kill the bill!"Most staffers ignored Washington resident Missy Smith or gave her dirty looks as they filed into the Dirksen Senate Office building. Smith wasn't perturbed. Holding her bullhorn high, she told the workers that "the American people have spoken" and demanded that the health bill be "euthanized." When asked who she traveled to Capitol Hill with, Smith pointed across the street to Randall Terry, the Operation Rescue founder who often picketed Tiller's clinic and said his alleged killer "deserves to have his frame of mind and his motivation heard by the jury." Two days later, Terry also had a different take on his cause."The pro-life movement is in a crisis. We're making ourselves irrelevant," he said. Speaking to AOL News from the Mall, Terry said Brown's election and the refusal of some Catholic bishops to withhold communion from abortion-rights supporters are signs that "we've lost our way politically." As for the annual march, "It has become a holy pilgrimage for people who don't do anything for the rest of the year."Yoest isn't discouraged, even if many of those supporting her cause Friday were only virtually in the capital. The stalemate over health care "is a real indication of how underestimated pro-life sentiment is in this country," she said.Perhaps, but unlike Thursday's Supreme Court ruling overturning decades of campaign finance law, "whether you like it or not, Roe v. Wade is settled law," said Sabato, who predicts abortion will stay legal but limited. "It's a roller coaster but it's not a world-class roller coaster. The bumps and dips tend to be relatively small," he said of the war over abortion. "Everyone has recognized that this is an armistice. The activists are still shooting at one another, but most people have accepted this compromise as a way to move forward. And it's a compromise because nobody likes it."
By Adams Osilama (GNI)