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Yesterday,
Jim Dobson, Don Hodel, Mike Farris, Tony Perkins, and
I met with President Bush in the Oval Office just before
he signed the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003.
We had a wonderful conversation, celebrating one of the
most significant days of his presidency and a great day
for all who believe in the sanctity of life.
The
president talked freely about his faith and how committed
he is to the cause of defending human life.
I
remarked to the president that the partial-birth abortion
ban is simply part of a pattern that we've seen under
his leadership. First, there was the legislation to stop
sex trafficking; then the Prison Rape Elimination Act;
then his efforts to stop slavery and genocide of Christians
in the Sudan, an issue that may very soon have a successful
outcome; and then, of course, the campaign to help AIDS
victims in Africa and to promote abstinence; and the defunding
of international agencies that promote abortion. We talked
about how all of these things spring from a truth central
to a Christian worldview: the dignity and value of every
human being.
I
told the president that this was the pattern followed
by William Wilberforce, a conservative member of Parliament
and a Christian. In the eighteenth century, he fought
for twenty years to abolish slavery, the great abomination
of his day, and as a result of that, a great spiritual
awakening swept England. It is interesting that all through
history conservatives with Christian consciences have
done the great works that liberals only talk about.
This
president has a deep concern for those in the margins
of society—the helpless, "the least of these," whom Jesus
cares so much about. After the meeting, we took the motorcade
over to the Ronald Reagan Building where the president
signed the bill before 400 people, including, it seemed,
half the Congress. There was a great sustained applause
as the president talked about his administration's commitment
to life. Though this law will draw lawsuits, he said,
"the executive branch will vigorously defend this law
against any who would try to overturn it in the courts."
When
earlier, we had been sitting in the Oval Office, with
the light streaming in from the Rose Garden, my mind wandered
back to two previous occasions when, rather than seeing
a partial-birth abortion ban signed, Jim Dobson and I,
accompanied by Cardinal Bevilacqua and once Cardinal O'Connor,
went all over Capitol Hill, trying to win enough votes
to override President Clinton's two vetoes of similar
bans.
On
one occasion, after the vote was cast, Jim and I were
in the marble room just off the Senate floor, when we
saw Kate Michelman and her pro-abortion lobbying team
high-fiving one another. I thought to myself, what depths
a society sinks to when people celebrate the killing of
unborn children. Those were discouraging days, but like
Wilberforce, we didn't quit fighting.
Often
Christians say the culture war is too much for us: We're
losing all the battles; we can't win; maybe we should
just give up and take care of our churches. No. No. No.
Never despair. Never give up. It would have been tempting
that dreary September afternoon in the marble room when
we saw yet another defeat to just give up. But the movement
kept pressing on. Now, finally Congress has passed a ban
for the third time, and—thank God—a president has the
courage to sign it into law. The lesson? Don't quit—truth
wins in the end. Don't retreat into our sanctuaries. Let's
do our duty and resolve to keep fighting until this dreadful
villainy—taking innocent human lives—is eradicated.
Copyright
(c) 2003 Prison Fellowship Ministries
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN FINAL
FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
"BreakPoint with Chuck Colson" is a daily commentary on
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Further
reading and information:
- "President
Bush Signs Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003,"
Ronald Reagan Building, Washington, D.C., White House
Office of the Press Secretary, 5 November 2003.
- See
White House Press Secretary Scott
McClellan's remarks on the signing at Wednesday's
press briefing.
- View
a description
of the partial-birth abortion procedure, courtesy
of the National Right to Life. (Warning: graphic sketches.)
- "Limited abortion
ban fuels battle," MSNBC, 6 November 2003.
- "Judge Issues
Abortion Law Injunction," FOX News, 5 November
2003.
- Fred
Barnes, "How
a Cause Was Born," Wall Street Journal, 6
November 2003.
- "The
Daschle Abortion Ban," Wall Street Journal,
6 November 2003.
- BreakPoint
Commentary No. 021113, "Staying
Power: Wilberforce, Slavery—and Abortion." (Archived
commentary; free registration required.)
- BreakPoint
Commentary No. 031103, "Mankind
Is Our Business: Christians and Human Rights."
- Rachel
M. MacNair, "The
Nightmares of Choice," Touchstone, September
2003.
- Mary
Ann Glendon, "The
Women of Roe v. Wade," First Things,
June/July 2003.
- Peter
Kreeft, How
to Win the Culture War (InterVarsity, 2002.)
- Kevin
Belmonte, Hero
for Humanity: A Biography of William Wilberforce
(NavPress, 2002).
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