James Dobson: Pro-Life Cause May Have to Settle for Overturning Roe, Abortion
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
October 1, 2010
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Ask most pro-life Americans and they will tell the you the ultimate goal for the pro-life movement is a constitutional amendment recognizing the legal status of unborn children from conception. But former Focus on the Family president and founder James Dobson says that may not be attainable.
Before a constitutional amendment, either federally or in any state, can be recognized, the Supreme Court must be changed to remove its current pro-abortion majority — pegged by most pro-life legal scholars as 5-4 at best.
Once that happens, the Supreme Court can reverse the infamous Roe v. Wade decision that allowed for virtually unlimited abortions throughout pregnancy for any reason and has resulted in more than 52 million abortions since 1973.
When the high court overturns Roe, states may be able to pass their own laws prohibiting abortions, and Dobson says that may have to be good enough for the pro-life movement because getting three-fourths of the states and Congress to ratify a constitutional amendment is an extraordinarily difficult process.
"I would be willing to settle for each state making a decision, and we’ll fight that out in the state legislatures in 50 states. I just don’t see the Supreme Court saying this is flat-out illegal," he lamented. "I wish they would, but I don’t think that will happen."
Dobson’s comments also refer to the theory among some pro-life legal observers that the Supreme Court could find the necessary votes to overturn Roe — throwing the abortion battle back to the states — but not having enough votes to uphold a constitutional amendment.
The election of President Barack Obama set back the pro-life cause because it allowed him to replace retiring pro-abortion jurists, John Paul Stevens and Sandra Day O’Connor, with abortion advocates who will almost assuredly vote to keep Roe and unlimited abortions in place for decades to come.
The pro-life movement won’t have the opportunity to replace a pro-abortion Supreme Court judge with the potential fifth vote to overturn Roe until at least 2013, assuming Obama is defeated by a pro-life presidential candidate in the next election.
Dobson, who made the comments, according to a OneNewsNow report, on the Today’s Issues program on American Family Radio, also said he applauded pro-life groups and advancements such as better-quality ultrasounds for changing the face of public opinion.
"You can’t deny it’s a baby," Dobson says. "You see it sucking its thumb, moving and turning cartwheels in its mother’s womb."
Recent polls have consistently shown a majority of Americans are both pro-life and strongly support limits such as no tax funding for abortions or parental involvement for teens.
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