Rick Santorum is a stalwart on issues pertaining to the family and abortion. He may end up being the one I vote for in the Iowa Caucuses. He is certainly courageous and willing to stand for all of the unborn children, regardless of how they came into this world. For this he should be commended. Frankly, I have trouble understanding why he isn’t doing better in the Iowa polls after traveling all over the state meeting voters one-on-one. He is likeable, knowledgeable and conservative on all three of the traditional Republican stool legs (economics, social issues, defense). I have a few small beefs with some of his political choices, as I think he “plays the game” way too much, but I have very few differences with him in policy.
Nevertheless, I make one plea from Senator Santorum. Please, please, stop touting your authorship of that impotent piece of legislation called the Partial Birth Abortion (PBA) Ban Act. There are several reasons why you should stop, now.
First, there is no reason to believe that the ban, which was upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS), has saved the life of even one single unborn child. It only banned one specific kind of abortion. Although the Supreme Court upheld the law in Gonzalez v. Carhart, it should be no surprise that abortionist Carhart is still killing babies more than 20 weeks after development anyway. Outlawing a particular procedure is no different than having specific laws against stabbing someone in the back of the head, but no laws against cutting people into little pieces. In fact, that is what we did do. Carhart simply uses a different method to kill babies the same age as the ones he killed before. The Court made it clear that
“The medical profession, furthermore, may find different and less shocking methods to abort the fetus in the second trimester, thereby accommodating legislative demand.”
Less shocking, perhaps to our sensitivities, but no less deadly, to the child’s breathing mechanism.
The court went on to describe in graphic detail, gruesome alternatives to the PBA. Having taken one bite out of the apple and found a worm in it, nobody, including Santorum, is willing to take another shot at it. We can only be grossed out so much, and then we simply harden ourselves.
Second, one of the heroic pro-life leaders who first exposed the procedure (Paul deParrie) went to his grave regretting having ever done so. He feared that the hullabaloo surrounding one repulsive spectacle might distract us from the millions killed in more silent and invisible ways. Indeed, we spent millions of dollars and thousands of man-hours on this without a single life being saved. How much of that time, money, and energy could have been spent in ways to directly save the lives of unborn children?
Third, it provided cover for those who wouldn’t lift a finger to save a single unborn baby to call themselves “pro-life”, such as Tom Daschle, Harry Reid, and Arlen Specter, All of these politicians voted for the ban, and got for themselves moderate ratings from pro-abortion groups, giving them cover in moderate states. It also gives them opportunity to paint as radical anyone who wants to go beyond their own noble “pro-life” sentiments.
Fourth, it leads politicians and other pro-lifers to make a flawed distinction by saying that PBA was not really about abortion, but rather infanticide. This however, is to give away the farm. The principle is that the life inside the womb is worth no less or no more than the one half-way out or the one all the way out. The Bible describes life as a thread. This is the real seamless garment of life.
It is perhaps too much to ask Senator Santorum to admit that the PBA ban was a waste of time. He has invested much of his recent campaign strategy to the ban. But he should as quickly move away from this blight on our pro-life movement as possible, and on to what he will do to save the actual lives of unborn children. We know he is capable. Please move on, Senator.