Pro-Life Advocates Urged to Renew Efforts Against Abortion After Election Loss
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
November 5, 2008
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Several pro-life leaders are hoping the majority of Americans who take a pro-life position on abortion will re-charge and re-energize following Tuesday night’s election defeats. They say the pro-life movement must prepare themselves to take on a pro-abortion president and renew educational efforts.
"We have long known that the work of advancing a culture of life is not a short-term project," Americans United for Life president Charmaine Yoest told LifeNews.com.
"Recall that William Wilberforce fought against the slave trade for 45 years before he ultimately prevailed in his defense of life," she said.
"In 2008, it is clear that, despite the challenges still remaining, the pro-life message is steadily gaining ground," Yoest contends. "Momentum in the states has enabled us to make significant gains in protecting women and unborn children. Young people today self-report as pro life at a higher rate than their parents’ generation."
After the elections, Father Frank Pavone spoke of a "great mistake" but an "abiding hope."
"Americans have made a grave mistake in electing Barack Obama to the presidency," he said. "Yet America herself remains great and is not a mistake, which is why so many of her citizens will continue, with even greater energy and determination, to defend her founding principles."
Pavone urged the pro-life community to rally together to oppose the coming Obama administration’s efforts to roll back pro-life laws.
"The pro-life movement has made significant gains in the courts and in the law in these last eight years. For the next four, the movement will work to prevent the erosion of that progress," he said.
Bradley Mattes, the director of Life Issues Institute, encouraged pro-life groups and advocates to focus on education with the reality that legislative goals of ending abortion are now stalled.
“With federal legislation no longer an option for a minimum of two years, pro-life education is absolutely central and critical to our future efforts of ending abortion," he told LifeNews.com.
"The key to countering this devastating political loss is to change the hearts and minds of Americans on abortion and related life issues. That can only be done through effective pro-life education," he added.
Troy Newman, the president of Operation Rescue said he thinks the pro-life movement will ultimately prevail.
"Yesterday’s losses are just a speed bump on the road to victory for the innocent," he told LifeNews.com. "Overall, Americans are more pro-life than ever before. Election cycles tend to be cyclical, and we are confident that we will once again have our day."
"These setbacks will only energize us. The fight is on," Newman explained. "We will continue to work though every available legal means to stop abortion. The person occupying the White House will not diminish that work."
"Now is not the time for discouragement, but a time to roll up our sleeves and continue the fight, having peace knowing that the results in God’s hands and, ultimately, victory is assured," he concluded.
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