Immensely Exciting Times.(trends in pro-life movement)(Editorial)

The longer I write Today's News & Views, now in its sixth year, the more I realize that everyone who reads NRL News must also avail themselves of this daily resource. The stark reality is that while cyberspace is essentially unbounded, a newspaper's news "hole" is severely limited.

So much has gone on since the March issue it's hard to do justice to the totality of what TN&V readers have learned by perusing 22 editions. But beyond trying to persuade you to take a gander at TN&V, I want to use this space to highlight some of what happened, discuss the contents of the April edition of the "pro-life newspaper of record," and take a quick look out over the horizon.

In response to legislative initiatives and clear shifts in popular culture our opposition has moved from jittery to extreme nervousness to suffering anxiety attacks. Behind the scenes they are no doubt calling all hands on deck. To the public they are testing a host of stratagems, the common denominator of which is to attempt to baptize the status quo.

For example, a few weeks ago 55 Catholic congressional Democrats, most of whom are pro-abortion, offered a "Statement of Principles." In their convoluted statement, they argued (a) it's okay for Catholics to disagree with their church on abortion, and (b) we're good on lots of other issues of importance to the Catholic Church.

Wouldn't you know, the point person for this statement was Rep. Rosa DeLauro. A 100% pro-abortion vote, DeLauro previously served as the executive director of EMILY's List, which supports only hardcore pro-abortion female candidates.

Writing on the Our Sunday Visitor Web page Gerry Korson hit the nail on the head. "That statement, released Feb. 28 on the website of Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), was widely seen as a thinly veiled defense of Catholic legislators who support laws that protect or expand legal abortion." In other words, these Catholic Democrats were advising the church leadership that abortion is important, but let's not go crazy.

This is about the 20th effort by pro-abortion Democrats since the November 2004 elections to extract themselves from the corner into which they've painted themselves. They can repackage abortion advocacy until the cows come home, but they will pay the electoral price until and unless they substitute substance for cosmetic changes.