The Christian Century

A controversial study suggesting that the abortion rate has increased since President Bush took office was off the mark, its author now admits. But he also says new figures vindicate some of his contentions.

When President Bush spoke last month at a major antiabortion rally, he endorsed the activists’ cause but admitted that their primary goal—making abortion illegal—is not likely to be achieved anytime soon. He added that “a true culture of life cannot be sustained solely by changing laws. We need, most of all, to change hearts.”

When my son David was born in 1967, fathers were not allowed in the delivery room. So I posted myself outside the delivery-room door and prayed. My wife, Dot, had had German measles (rubella) in the early months of her pregnancy. She was a pediatrics nurse, so she and I were aware of the damage that German measles could cause to the developing fetus.

Senate Democrats, whose party officially supports abortion rights, have elected an abortion opponent as their leader. And Senate Republicans, whose party officially opposes abortion, backed a rare prochoice senator as chair of one of the Senate’s most powerful committees—despite a clamor from the right.

A second federal judge has ruled against the government’s ban on so-called partial birth abortions, saying the federal law passed by Congress last year is unconstitutional.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Richard Casey of New York City on August 26 followed a similar decision by a San Francisco judge in June.

After a California judge declared that the “partial-birth” abortion ban is unconstitutional, progressive groups cheered the ruling and the White House vowed to defend the law.

Catholic lawmakers who resent being targeted by bishops for their support of abortion rights have fired back, with one suggesting that prelates who wade too deeply into politics may risk their tax-exempt status.

Although a leading Vatican cardinal states that Catholic teaching is clear about denying communion to a politician who supports abortion rights, two key U.S. bishops say withholding the sacrament from a dissenting Catholic like Massachusetts Senator John Kerry is not a likely option.

President Bush used a special presidential prerogative January 16 to get one of his most controversial judicial nominees installed, temporarily, on a federal appeals panel. Just days before Congress returned from its holiday recess to resume its legislative work, Bush used a “recess appointment” to get Charles Pickering installed as a judge on the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.