Abortion's effect on America.(THE LAST WORD)(Samuel A. Alito Jr.'s nomination to Supreme Court, John Birch Society's pro-life movement)

No matter what some senators say publicly, in the upcoming Senate hearings addressing the nomination of Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. for a place on the Supreme Court, many votes will be determined by Alito's stance regarding abortion. Knowing this brought to mind an observation given me more than 35 years ago.

The comment made to me in 1970 came from the wife of a John Birch Society colleague who overheard her husband and me discussing the wording of an anti-abortion statement we were crafting. New York and Colorado had already eased restrictions on the grisly practice, and the national government seemed to be heading in the very same direction. The assignment we were working on came our way three years before the Supreine Court's infamous Roe r. Wade decision that voided all state laws criminalizing abortion. We two concluded that there was no other way to address the issue than to state that "abortion is murder." Having overheard much of our discussion, my friend's wife remarked to the two of us, "If there's a need for you or anyone to publish a statement telling Americans that abortion is wrong, I fear for the future of this country." I have never forgotten those words.

After our single-page statement gained the approval of our superiors, it was published under the banner of the Movement To Restore Decency (MOTOREDE), an ad hoc committee of The John Birch Society. We can only guess how many tens of thousands of copies of the flyer were distributed by Society activists all across the nation. But the effort wasn't enough, and our worst fears were realized in January 1973 when the Supreme Court ruled 7-2 to legalize the killing of the unborn.

Many Americans were outraged by the court's ruling. Right to Life groups sprang up in many states and especially at the national level. There were threats to impeach pro-abortion judges, campaigns to amend the Constitution, and demands issued that future appointments to the high court must be given only to pro-life stalwarts. Nevertheless, more than a million infants in the womb have been sacrificed each and every year. Reasonable estimates note that upwards of 45 million babies have been snuffed out since Roe v. Wade was enshrined as the supposed "law of the land."

As soon as President Bush named Judge Alito as his choice for the seat of retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the nominee's history regarding abortion became the chief issue. A television crew immediately filmed his 85-year-old mother at the front door of her New Jersey home stating of her son. "Of course he's opposed to abortion." Researchers uncovered a decades-old job application in which the judge stated, ...