Phil Brennan
Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2001

But being pro-life and doing anything effective about banning the killing of the unborn are two different things. Like it or not, Roe vs. Wade is deeply embedded in the so-called law of the land, and, given the state of mind of a majority of Americans (including, it appears, the president's wife), rolling back that legalistic atrocity is simply not an option at this time.

Politics, being the art of the possible, therefore dictates the seeking of some way around the wall the U.S. Supreme Court erected around the alleged right of a woman to choose to snuff out the life of the child nestled in the sanctity of her womb.

Surprisingly, there are a few routes that will allow us to sidestep Roe vs. Wade. They may not outlaw abortion, but they will allow those of us who value human life at all stages to make serious inroads on the inhuman practice.

1. Partial-Birth Abortion: This ghoulish dismemberment of a child in the process of being born is abhorrent to the great majority of Americans who are adamantly opposed to what amounts to outright infanticide. Congress, both House and Senate, has twice passed bans on the practice, only to have the legislation vetoed by a president deeply indebted to the billion-dollar abortion industry for its generosity in contributing to his campaigns and the treasury of the Democratic Party.

We now have a president who has pledged to sign a ban on partial-birth abortions. Presumably there are sufficient votes in the House and Senate to pass the legislation needed to rid the nation of this outrage.

Modest Proposal #1 – For Congress – Reintroduce the legislation, pass it quickly and get it up to the White House for the president's signature.

2. Informed Consent: The majority support for retaining the so-called woman's right to choose is an anomaly – while polls show most Americans favor the objectives of Roe vs. Wade, they also reveal that almost the same majority believes that abortion is murder.

To counter this contradiction, those who support human life from conception onward face the massive task of educating the public about the nature of abortion – something a brilliant propaganda campaign conducted by the abortion industry aided and abetted by the pro-abortion media has been able to conceal.

Obviously, pro-life forces have a job of educating the public about the gruesome nature of the baby-killing business – and this is an arduous task that will take a long time to accomplish. In the meantime, an education campaign must be undertaken to focus in on those most concerned: the 1.5 million women who submit their bodies to the abortuaries each year to rid them of the inconvenience of having a baby they don't want.

The decision to abort the baby in her womb is, for the great majority of pregnant women, an excruciatingly painful one. When making that decision she should be fully informed about what she is about to do. Her health, both mental and physical, is deeply involved. She is fully entitled, therefore, to know exactly what she is about to do.

Her consent should be given only when she has been made aware of the consequences of her act. And this is something the abortion industry bitterly opposes because it is fully aware of what the result will be – most women, fully informed of the nature of abortion, will decide against it.

Modest Proposal #2. Informed Consent. President Bush should send a message to Congress asking for legislation requiring that any woman contemplating abortion be given the following opportunities:

• The abortuary must provide the woman with a full and complete description of the process involved, including full disclosure of the physical risks involved and the fully demonstrated likelihood of serious psychological after-effects as a result of having participated in the death of her child in her womb.

• She must be given full details concerning the process to be employed by the abortuary in performing the abortion, no matter how grisly the procedure. She must be made to view an ultrasound image of the child in her womb, as well as all the details concerning its stage of development.

• She must then be given 48 hours to consider her decision before an abortion can be performed.

• If she still chooses to have the child in her womb destroyed, she must be required to view the entire procedure via ultrasound imaging.

No woman should be forced to undergo an abortion in a state of ignorance about what she is about to do. Informed consent before any medical or surgical procedure is both mandatory and commonplace. It must and should be mandatory in the case of abortion.

OK, Mr. President. The ball is in your court.

Phil Brennan, a veteran journalist and author, is editor and publisher of Wednesday on the Web (http://www.pvbr.com). He was Washington columnist for National Review in the 1960s and also served as a staff aide for the House Republican Policy Committee. His e-mail address is pvb@pvbr.com.