Thursday, June 7, 2007

Pruning the Abortion Weed

I was first drawn to question what's going on with the Partial Birth Abortion Ban when I saw Dr. Alan Keyes speak (speak, by the way, is understating what he does -- he's an eloquent, rapturous speaker!) at a pro-life event put on by Colorado Right to Life, memorializing the 40th anniversary of the 1st pro-abortion law in the country (signed in Colorado in 1967).

I received my copy of the DVD from that event (ordered through Colorado Right to Life, which is linked to the right of this article) just a few days ago, which prompted me to start this blog. The DVD is great -- has speeches by all the speakers, which were some of the best pro-life messages I'd ever heard. The whole event was really inspirational, and I left determined that I would do more to help the movement. I have a God-given gift for writing, and I'm hoping to use that as my first tool (hence, the blog!).

Keyes had hardly started to talk when he verbally assailed (assaulted -- punctured, spindled, etc.) the Supreme Court for upholding the Partial Birth Abortion Ban (the federal version -- there are various versions of PBA bans, mostly at the state level, and some are better than others).

Instantly, I had a "say what?" moment. Why would anyone on the pro-life side not want partial birth abortion banned? But at Keyes' speed, it didn't take more than a few seconds for him to allay my questions.

He went on about how the Supreme Court's ruling was evil. How it was really a pro-abortion ruling, which paid homage to Roe v. Wade and all that. He explained in exquisite detail, and it was really eye-opening for me. What hit me hardest was it was so different from what I'd heard for many years from Republicans and recently from national officeholders and even from pro-life leaders! It was like night and day -- someone had the truth, and someone was either mistaken or lying. And, from the depth of information available from Keyes and Colorado Right to Life at this event, it was clear who had the facts on their side.

I don't have time to go on about this right now (I may later), but I want to direct you to Keyes' column on the subject, published just a few days after Colorado Right to Life's "Forty Years in the Wilderness: Coming Back to Life" event.

One of the key points Keyes makes is that these pro-life "regulations" many pro-life groups (and lots of Republicans) love to talk about are really not achieving what they're supposed to. They don't save babies (the PBA Ban, remarkably, does not save one baby's life!), and they actually just attack the abortion industry around the edges. They feed on the "weakest" points of the pro-abortion establishment, not at its heart. And because these regulations eat away only at the edges, they inadvertantly strengthen the "weed" of abortion because they avoid harming the root, which they leave intact and in place.

But even so, this strategy of incrementalist regulation misses the whole point. I play games, and in many role playing games they have "critical hits" -- if you make just the right roll, or score, then something devastating happens to your enemy. And the abortion industry is like a dragon -- it's fearsome, awesome, kills lots of people, and seems impossible to stop. But every dragon has a key vulnerability. That key point -- that "critical hit" waiting to happen -- is Personhood.

Like I said, I'll get to that later, once I can formulate my thoughts. But pro-lifers have to concentrate on establishing Personhood for persons of ALL ages, big, little, strong or frail.

Here's Keyes' take on it:

http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/keyes/070428

And please bookmark this site, if you care about the fight for life for all. Come back and see as this develops.

Thanks!

Bob Kyffin

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