Welcome to the January digital edition of National Right to Life News, for over 50 years the “pro-life newspaper of record.” Let me thank you in advance for reading the entire 48-page issue and for forwarding the stories you like best to pro-life family and friends. We wanted this commemorative edition leading up to the 46th anniversary of Roe v. Wade to address every topic of interest and relevance to pro-lifers around the world. (Thanks to the Internet, 10% of our readership is from overseas.) Here are just a few highlights…. We begin with politics and the ensuing impact on legislation. What do the results of the November mid-term elections mean for advancing pro-life policies and fending off whatever blue print proabortion have in mind? Jennifer Popik, NRLC federal legislative director, and Karen Cross, NRLC’s Political Director, fill you in and bring readers up to speed. (See pages one and seven.) In the second editorial which also begins on page two, we talk in depth about the upcoming 46th anniversary of Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, the twin sisters of death. Roe provided the skeletal framework, as it were, of this judicial abomination while Doe fleshed out what Roe only hinted at: the High Court was unleashing abortion on demand on an unsuspecting public .

And since this entire issue is a commemoration of Roe and Doe, NRL News is offering multiple stories on the impact of decisions that had no foundation in the Constitution. Pease also read the stories on pages 27-28, and 34 & 36. NRLC President Carol Tobias addresses “2019: challenges and opportunities” on page three. Carol explains how returning Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is up to her old pro-abortion tricks and how you can help NRLC to advance “Operation 2K20: Why the January commemorative issue of National Right to Life News is must reading Building a Pro-Life America (see page four). Jacki Ragan, director of NRLC’s State Organizational Development Department, gives us an essential overview of what NRLC will be doing in 2019 to promote a Culture of Life. She answers an assortment of questions, including, “What are the three things any grassroots pro-lifer can and should do in 2019?

Previous articleCarla Hayden Takes Charge of the World’s Largest Library
Next article2019: challenges and opportunities
1973 Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton Decisions Legalized Abortion in the U.S. for theFull Nine Months of Pregnancy Prior to 1967, abortion was prohibited in all 50 states except when the mother’s life was in danger. Between 1967 and 1973, 18 states added further exceptions, mostly to allow abortion in cases of rape and incest, or for certain limited medical reasons, or on demand (New York). In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court rendered two decisions, Roe v. Wade 1 and Doe v. Bolton 2 which, taken together, have allowed legal abortion on demand at any stage of pregnancy in all 50 states. The two original decisions established legal abortion as follows: In the first three months of pregnancy, no one can interfere with a woman’s decision to abort her child. After the first three months, but before the “viability” of the unborn child, an individual state can enact laws to protect the health of the mother but cannot prohibit the abortion of the unborn child. After “viability” of the unborn child, an individual state can, if it chooses to do so, enact laws to protect the unborn child but abortion must be allowed if the life or “health” of the mother is at stake. The Supreme Court defined “health” as “the medical judgment that may be exercised in light of all factors – physical, emotional, psychological, familial, and the woman’s age –relevant to the well-being of the patient. All these factors may relate to health.” 2 Consequently, the broad definition of “health” has made abortion legal up to the moment of birth.

Leave a Reply