EDITORIALS A Day to Remember.

"Yet it is clear that the controversy over the ban has altered the tenor of the debate. The issue first came to the fore in 1995, after abortion opponents discovered a medical paper describing a procedure, performed at 20 weeks of pregnancy or beyond, in which the trunk of the fetus is delivered before the surgeon punctures the skull. `It was all in plain English,' recalls Douglas Johnson, legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee. That plain English provoked a strong reaction among lawmakers, and eventually the public, turning the discussion away from abstract notions of choice and toward abortion's most graphic details."

New York Times, Nov. 6

"For years, a terrible form of violence has been directed against children who are inches from birth, while the law looked the other way. Today, at last, the American people and our government have confronted the violence and come to the defense of the innocent child. ...[T]he executive branch will vigorously defend this law against any who would try to overturn it in the courts."

President Bush, in his remarks the day he signed the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act

"Today, we saw the real George Bush. If we could afford to, we would put that speech on television every day from now until the election. I'm glad that the President has decided to stop hiding his true colors on this issue. Any shred of doubt that this is the most anti-choice President this country has ever had has been convincingly erased."

Kate Michelman, NARAL President

I was unable to be among the more than 400 pro-lifers who assembled in the Ronald Reagan Building to witness President George W. Bush sign the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003. But even watching the ceremony on television was close enought for me to realize the crowd was wired for joy.