FROM THE PRESIDENT GET READY FOR 2004.(presidential election)(Column)

The 2004 presidential election is more than a year away, but pro-lifers better get ready. The September column informed you about elaborate plans by well-funded groups "to defeat Bush and `elect progressive officials at every level in 2004,' targeting 17 key states," as one of them declared. As the primary election and nomination process in the Democratic Party is currently constituted, only a candidate strongly favoring abortion rights can expect to be that party's presidential nominee.

The September issue of NRL News also brought a lengthy report by NRLC's Federal Legislative Director Douglas Johnson about old myths and lies relating to partial-birth abortions being recycled by the mainstream press. As the likelihood grows that a federal partial-birth abortion ban will be signed into law by President Bush, the tactics of the pro-abortionists and their helpers in the media are becoming more desperate. So it's back to the old lies.

The falsehoods about partial-birth abortions aren't the only myths and lies that are being recycled. I have already seen the first signs of other old and worn misrepresentations of the pro-life movement being re-polished for public presentation. Elections must be around the corner.

Again we are being accused of not being "really" pro-life but only anti-abortion. And if we were "truly" pro-life we would work for a broad range of social justice issues in the spirit of the "seamless garment," etc. Because these charges are so nonsensical and tiresome we are tempted to ignore them, but in the climate of an election such charges do harm because they provide cover for the Ted Kennedys, Patrick Leahys, and Tom Daschles of this world. So they must be refuted whenever they are raised.

National Right to Life Committee and its state affiliates are committed to the legal and constitutional protection of all innocent human life. We concentrate our efforts on the protection from abortion, infanticide, and euthanasia. NRLC and its state affiliates have worked in all these areas of concern through education, legislation, litigation, and political work through our respective political action committees. Any competent and honest observer of our work must come to the conclusion that we are, in fact, pro-life and not merely anti-abortion.

Abortion, of course, is the overwhelming problem in the "culture of death"--although euthanasia is fast moving up the ladder, as the European experience suggests. Given the enormous death toll by abortion, it is no surprise that our efforts are most visible in this area.

When our opponents refer to the "seamless garment" of social justice concept they imply that it is improper for us to concentrate on a narrow set of issues. They want us to address "the other issues," too. The "other issues," however, are quite numerous.