RECENT DEVELOPMENT: The Bush Administration says a developing fetus may be classified as an “unborn child” who is eligible for government health care. The effect will be to give low-income women access to prenatal care. A fetus will qualify for the care under the State Children's Health Insurance Program. It is aimed at kids, so it typically does not cover parents or pregnant women. But Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson says the care a person receives in the womb can play a role in the individual's life-long health. He says, “We should do everything we can to make this care available for all pregnant women.” States will now have the option of including unborn children in their programs. If they do, that would make the mother eligible for prenatal and delivery care. Pro-abortion activists say this is a way to establish a fetus as a person with legal standing — a move that could make it easier to outlaw abortion.
by Bill Fancher and Jody Brown
Two former heroes of the abortion movement in America are hoping to appear again before the U.S. Supreme Court — but this time, they will be fighting for the pro-life cause.
Norma McCorvey and Sandra Cano are the two women defendants pro-abortion attorneys used to make abortion legal in the United States, and then to expand it to cover the full term of pregnancy. But Alan Parker of the Texas Justice Foundation says McCorvey and Cano have changed their allegiance and are working to stop the killing of millions of unborn children.
“Now Sandra and Norma are … leading Operation Outcry's 'Silent No More,' a national legal effort to overturn Roe v. Wade by women who've had abortions telling the truth about their abortions,” Parker says.
That legal effort, he says, attempts to dispel what he calls the two big abortion lies: “It's not a child” and “It's good for women.”
“The first one is a scientific question, obviously,” Parker says, “but the other lie … can really be refuted by women who've had an abortion.”
McCorvey, Cano Affidavits
McCorvey and Cano are two such women. In affidavits filed by the Texas Justice Foundation, they make their stance clear.
“My case [Roe v. Wade] was wrongfully decided and has caused great harm to the women and children of our nation,” McCorvey states. “I have an interest in stopping that harm and I have an interest in disclosing the facts which expose the weakness of the underlying assumptions which led to that incorrect decision.”
She continues in her affidavit to say that virtually the entire basis for the case was built on false assumptions, she was exploited by two “self-interested” attorneys, and she was used by the judicial system to “justify legalization of terminating the lives over thirty-five million babies.”
Cano was “Mary Doe” in Doe v. Bolton, the companion case to Roe v. Wade. Her affidavit states that when the case began, she did not want an abortion — but that people around her wanted her to.
“My predicament made it difficult for me to take care of my [previous three] children, but I didn’t need an abortion,” Cano states. “I needed help, but all of the people around me — my husband, my mother, and my lawyer — refused to help me with my children. I carried my child to full term and gave birth. Because no one would help me, I felt compelled to surrender my rights and give my baby up for adoption.”
Although she never had an abortion herself, Cano states she knows what it is like to feel responsible for one. “After Doe v. Bolton was decided and I was told about my involvement, I felt responsible for the experiences to which the mother and babies were being subjected,” the affidavit states.
Cano's affidavit also states the assertion that abortion is performed for the mother is “the cruelest misrepresentation of all.” In her case, she says, the doctors, nurses, and clinics were using the court to do what they thought was in her best interest.
New Pro-Life Group
The pro-life movement in America has a new ally. A new coalition called the National Congress for the Protection of Human Life will join in the fight for the unborn. Former presidential candidate Howard Phillips is part of the new group. He describes it as “a loose confederation of organizations which are committed to the defense of innocent human life without exception.”
Phillips says the coalition will develop into something special. “[It will be] an organization which is opposed to any kind of embryonic stem cell research, even of the kind which George Bush has embraced; [and] opposed to any abortion, whether it's the result of rape or incest or whatever — an innocent life is still at risk,” he says.
Judie Brown, Gary Bauer, and Pat Buchanan are others who have endorsed the effort and will be a part of the NCPHL. The group will join an ever-expanding list of pro-life organizations dedicated to overturning Roe v. Wade.
(This article courtesy of Agape Press.)
