EDITORIALS Laughably Out of Touch.(pro life movement gaining ground)(Editorial)

"Every day, in Congress, courts, state legislatures, and informal conversations, people who see the [abortion] issue one way try to engage people who see it a slightly different way. It's a labor of imagination and persuasion and the stakes are enormous."

William Saletan, author of Bearing Right.

"Seen against the broad canvas of humanitarian thought and practice in Western society from the 17th to the 20th century, the expansion of the definition of life to include the whole career of the fetus rather than only the months after quickening is quite consistent. It as in line with a number of movements [in the 19th century] to reduce cruelty and to expand the concept of the sanctity of life."

From At Odds by Carl Degler

"I pray every day for the unborn babies. I am 83 yrs. old."

Letter to NRLC, containing a check for $100 to help defray costs of the annual National Right to Life Convention.

Writers admittedly all too often fall in love with their own rhetorical constructs. Having offered that caveat, I am nonetheless utterly convinced that we have not only turned a page in a debate that goes back more than 40 years but have begun a new chapter.