A Historical Perspective: Challenges No Greater Than Those the Pro-Life Movement Has Met and Overcome Before.

The election results were certainly not what we had worked and prayed for. The new Congress, with its pro-abortion Democratic leadership, definitely poses new and difficult challenges. However, a historical perspective and analysis of how Americans voted shows that these challenges are no greater than those the pro-life movement has met and overcome before. (See story, page one.)

While there are still absentee and provisional ballots being counted and possible recounts expected in some very close races, it appears the Democrats will control the House of Representatives in the 110th Congress with approximately the same margin, 30 seats, with which the Republicans controlled the chamber during the 109th Congress.

Unfortunately, as has been the case historically, the leadership and most members of the Democratic caucus are strongly pro-abortion.

For the 22 years following Roe (1973 thru 1994), the Democrats consistently controlled the U.S. House with a margin that ranged between 50 and 149 seats. In fact, the Democratic margin during 1993 and 1994 was 82 seats. The Republicans regained control of the House in the 1994 electionsthe first time since losing it in 1954.

With a gain of six seats, the Democrats regained control of the U.S. Senate by the slimmest possible margin (5149). Since 1973, the Democrats have controlled the U.S. Senate for a total of 16 years with margins ranging between 10 and 23 seats when there was also a Democratically controlled House. In addition, during most of 2001 and all of 2002, the Democrats controlled the Senate but not the House.

During these periods of Democratic control of Congress, with leadership and committee chairmen generally hostile to our cause, the pro-life movement continued to make gains and thwart pro-abortion initiatives. In the period between 1992 and 1994, when pro-abortion Democrats controlled both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, we succeeded in stopping both the radically pro-abortion "Freedom of Choice Act" (FOCA) and the Clinton Health Care Rationing Plan.

All of this is not to say that the next two years will be easy. They won't. But we've been there before. The same kind of hard work and determination that led to past pro-life successes and advances in the face of a hostile Congress can and will be in evidence again.