Democrat Zell Miller Recounts His Change From Pro-Abortion to Pro-Life 
Email this article
Printer friendly page
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
September 1, 2004
New York, NY (LifeNews.com) — Democratic senator Zell Miller is the featured keynote speaker at the third night of the Republican Party convention. His speech concludes a remarkable change from a pro-abortion governor who nominated abortion advocate Bill Clinton for president to a pro-life senator who supports pro-life President George W. Bush.
Miller writes in his book, "A National Party No More," that he begin to change his mind on abortion with the birth of his great grandchildren.
"I believe the thinking of many Americans is changing on this subject," he writes.
"New science and technology can now show the heart of the unborn baby beating in the mother’s womb," Miller says. "I saw it on the front page of Newsweek, no less."
The Georgia lawmakers says he remembers his twenty-year old grandson carrying a sonogram of his "yet unborn, but so alive daughter."
"It gave new meaning to the old Roberta Flack song ‘The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,’" Miller explains.
"I began to seriously wrestle with where I was on the real question," he writes. "I began to pray earnestly for God’s guidance."
In fact, Miller dedicates an entire chapter in his book to describe his conversion on the abortion issue.
In an interview with Human Events editor Terence Jeffrey in January, Miller said he had come full circle and was definitely pro-life.
"I watched the demonstrators as they came to Washington, and the advocates for life, and the number of 42 million human beings having been killed because of Roe vs. Wade," Miller explained, "and it just grabbed ahold of me very strongly that what if one of my four great-grandchildren or four grandchildren had been one of those that never did get to enjoy the life that they have now."
The clincher for Miller may have been from women who have had abortions and wish they could undo their decisions.
"The most poignant sight for me at this year’s annual pro-life march and demonstration in Washington, D.C.," wrote Miller, "was the large number of women holding signs saying they regretted their abortions."
Miller says he regrets the years he supported abortion. During his career as governor, he supported legal abortion but allowed for some exceptions — such as when he signed a ban on partial-birth abortions in 1997.
"I know it is wrong to take these lives. For me it is no longer a political issue but a moral one, as it should have been from the beginning. I hope someday Roe v. Wade will be reversed," Miller wrote.
Miller believes that it will and points to polls showing that Americans are becoming increasingly pro-life, especially young adults.
Instead of nominating the newly-minted Democratic presidential candidate, Miller has criticized John Kerry for opposing a ban on partial birth abortion. Tonight, he pledges his support for President Bush.
In 1992, a pro-abortion Zell Miller offered the nomination address for presidential candidate Bill Clinton — who eventually became the most pro-abortion president in U.S. history.
Today’s Zell Miller is a different man, though still a Democrat. He says he has lost faith in his party though he and many other pro-life Democrats remain members of it.
