Abortion ban win spurs look to future

• Editorial -- Light and dark
    Events of the last week held both good and bad news for respect for life in our nation

Green Bay Bp. David Zubik issued the following statement after the April 18 U.S. Supreme Court decision banning partial-birth abortion:

"I join with my brother Bishops, the Catholic community and all pro-life supporters of all faiths in applauding the High Court's decision to uphold a federal law that bans partial birth abortions.

"Simply put, abortion ends lives. Our faith should inspire and challenge us to protect all life. Each of us is a creation of God having intrinsic value, from the first moment of conception to the moment of natural death.

"My hope and prayer is that today's decision, which upholds the ban on the most brutal form of abortion, reflects a first step in ending the nearly one million abortions in this country each year."

John Huebscher, executive director of the Wisconsin Catholic Conference, released the following statement:"We are pleased with the Court's ruling. Today's decision is a victory for the proposition that the community can place at least some legal restrictions on the destruction of human life before birth.

"At the same time we recognize that the Court did not overturn the basic right to abortion it wrongly created in 1973. Efforts to address that injustice must and will continue. However, today's ruling offers new hope that those efforts may yet succeed.

"Today's victory, important as it is, occurs in the midst of other events that remind us that human life remains vulnerable every day in all places and among people of all ages. Efforts to limit abortion are only part of our ongoing obligation to honor the sanctity of all life, seeing dignity in all people and by rejecting violence in all its forms."

Because of a licensing agreement with Catholic News Service, The Compass Web site may archive CNS news stories for only 30 days. Therefore, the CNS article that was on this page has been removed: Abortion ban win spurs look to future.

A related story was published in the April 27, 2007 print edition of The Compass. See also the sidebars, at right.