President's Message: Life – speaking in defense, reaching out to help others

"Life has changed." " Things aren't the same." "We all have to get used to it." These are all phrases that have become commonplace since the September 11th attacks upon our country.

A few days ago I listened to the mayor of New York City reiterate these sentiments. I thought about how life in America has changed since I first became involved in the prolife movement in the spring of 1973, following the U.S. Supreme Court abortion decisions.

During the 1970s, our focus legislatively was preventing the use of tax dollars for abortions. Today some federal lawmakers are seeking our tax monies for cloning human embryos, a legacy spawned by the 1973 abortion decisions.

In those first years of legalized abortion, we said the law would be a great teacher; that by making abortion legal, there would be an ever-widening circle of circumstances where abortion would be acceptable. In this 21st century, we cannot even prevent the killing of a partially-born infant. Attempts to ban the use of the partial-birth abortion method have been nullified by our U.S. Supreme Court in a 5 to 4 decision.

In the 1970s, we argued that the legalization of killing at the beginning of life would lead to questioning the value of people at the end of life. In the 1990s, we fought the ethic of the quality of life as presented by Jack Kevorkian and the promoters of assisted suicide. Today, the state of Oregon has state sanctioned killing of the ill. Unfortunately, another prediction of the prolife movement has come to fruition.

Yes, life has changed. Things aren't the same. But we must not get used to "it," when "it" means abortion on demand, infanticide, and assisted suicide.

Because we have pledged not to get used to these attacks on the sanctity of human life, we have had great successes in our state. We have ended the use of state monies for Medicaid abortions; we have seen a decrease in abortions, especially in teen abortions; and we have prevented the legalization of assisted suicide. All these endeavors were successful because you have been a part of them through your donations of time and treasure. Without you, success may instead have been failure.

After the September 11th attacks, one columnist expressed his hope that while we can't go back to the way things were before the terrorists' strikes, we can instead try to be better citizens, better neighbors, just simply better people.

And that is what prolife people have done since the 1973 abortion decisions: we have become involved in a productive way in our local, state and federal government; we have reached out in our communities to help those facing a crisis pregnancy; and we have been there for those at the end of life.

Yes, our beloved country has changed since the 1973 abortion decisions. But we are resolute in our determination to continue to speak in defense of the precious gift of life.

 

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