Partial Birth Abortion Ban Assists Turnaround, Alan Keyes is Misguided
A study released by Overbrook Research examines the turnaround on public opinion regarding abortion over the past 15 years.
The study cites the debate over the partial birth abortion as a significant factor in this turnaround.
For example, in 1992 30% of Missouri voters called themselves pro-life, and 43% called themselves pro-choice. By 1997, with Partial Birth Abortion taking center stage in the debate, this evened out - 36% called themselves pro-life and 34% identified as being pro-choice.
Now, some argue the ban may not stop a single child from dying. But this isn't true, not only do more people identify themselves as being pro-life, more people are choosing not to have an abortion despite their opinion on the legality of abortion. This is due in large part to the debate over the procedure and the ban itself, among other pro-life efforts.
It's true that the ban may not prevent a woman from aborting her child if she is intent on doing so, as the Court preserved other methods, but the debate surely has changed womens' minds, stopping them from deciding to do so to begin with.
The Carhart ruling itself generated a significant amount of media attention, which should result in the continuation of this trend for quite some time as states modify their laws to reflect it. This will continue the trend in changing the hearts and minds of the nation towards life, and will have a significant impact on the 2008 presidential election.
While Carhart may be imperfect, good fruit will come from it despite the its imperfections - and despite the bad intentions of the any justices who side with death but ruled in the majority in this case.
It's time to not only rewrite state laws to reflect Carhart, but it's time to use the same strategy to focus on the gruesome D&E procedure, one in which an unborn baby is torn limb from limb. No doubt this debate will continue the cultural shift towards the side of life.
The debate over the this method has shown that the strategy of focusing on a gruesome procedure is effective in changing hearts and minds as well as saving lives - a point lost on Alan Keyes, who has called for a rational debate of Carhart.
Keyes calls for a rational debate - but like a few others, he views Carhart with an irrational eye, ignoring the results the debate has had on the culture.
It's not rational to debate Carhart - it's now history and won't be overruled anytime soon, so there really isn't anything to debate about. To paraphrase the left, it's time to for Keyes and others to "move on."
h/t lifenews.com
