News

Pro-life news good, bad, state director says

By Tony Staley
Compass Editor

These are both good times and challenging times for pro-life, said the executive director of Wisconsin Right to Life June 7 on a visit to Green Bay.

The good news, Barbara Lyons said, includes a third straight drop in the number of abortions in the state, continuing a downward trend that began in 1981, wins in court and growing support for pro-life among teen and young adults.

But challenges remain on the legislative front concerning embryonic stem cell research, assisted suicide and abortion.

The best news is the continuing drop in abortions in Wisconsin, Lyons said. The 9,580 abortions performed in 2006 were less than half the 21,754 abortion performed in 1980 and even less than the 10,920 performed in 1974, the first full year after the U.S. Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion.

"It's just a phenomenal success story because you look at not only the numbers but the rate, which has dropped too, and is at half the rate of the rest of the country," Lyons said. "I am never going to brag about 9,580 abortions, but it's just fantastic to see how well we're doing in Wisconsin."

The number of abortions in Wisconsin is also considerably less than in the neighboring states of Minnesota (13,700), Illinois (41,577) and Michigan (26,279) - states whose populations are not proportionateley that much larger.

Lyons attributes the lower number of abortions in Wisconsin to several factors:

• A strong, local grassroots effort;
• Availability of pregnancy help centers;
• Good public policy, including the Woman's Right to Know Act for informed consent;
• A consistent, strong TV advertising campaign, including ads on Oprah Winfrey and, in the Milwaukee area, American Idol;
• An Internet strategy aimed at youth that includes buying on search engines key words that rank pro-life sites high.

"By using television and the Internet we control the message," Lyons said, "which gives us a better means of reaching the people without someone standing in the way."

Lyons is also pleased by the strong pro-life attitudes of 14-25 year-olds - Generation Y.

"We have a lot of youth coming forth that are very passionate about the right to life issues," Lyons said. "We are having a great time educating them, training them to be leaders and getting them involved any way we can."

Efforts include training at conventions and summer camps, help in forming pro-life groups on college campuses and a strong presence on the Internet. There are 19 college groups in the state - an important age group because 80% of abortions are performed on 18-34 year-olds.

She said research has shown that people in Generation Y see the unborn child as an individual and that their attitudes are in many ways closer to their great-grandparents than to their parents or grandparents.

"We see it as our job to reinforce those values so they are not lost as they get older," Lyons said.

Lyons is pleased with the decision last month by Federal District Court Judge John Shabaz, in a suit by Wisconsin Right to Life, to allow judicial candidates to answer questions on issues. She's expecting a decision this month from the U.S. Supreme Court on their challenge to the McCain-Feingold law banning "issue" advertising shortly before elections.

But challenges remain, including the need to pass a state law that mirrors the federal partial-birth abortion ban, which the Court recently upheld, Lyons said.

While she's confident that the legislature would pass such a ban, it's not clear whether Senate leaders will bring it up for a vote or if the governor would sign it.

Wisconsin Right to Life also is supporting passage of the state Coercive Abortion Prevention Act, which would require abortion providers to refer to domestic violence centers any women being forced to have an abortion.

Lyons said her organization is working with the Wisconsin Catholic Conference on health care reform. One concern, she said, is that any proposal specifically excludes abortion; if it does not, abortion will be covered.

She said Wisconsin Right to Life is opposing efforts to:

• broaden embryonic stem cell research;
• legalize assisted suicide;
• repeal the state law that would outlaw abortion if Roe v. Wade is overturned. Wisconsin is one of only four states with such a ban.

Concerning embryonic stem cell research, Lyons said she was glad that the U.S. House of Representatives on June 6 defeated a "a phony clone ban" that in reality would have allowed human cloning.

"If they have a measure and they believe in it, why do they have to be deceptive about it?" Lyons asked. "It's not a ban on cloning at all. It's allowing creation of clones for research purposes, which they don't need to do because they can do it already anyway. But they just want it in the law."

On June 7, the House approved S-5, which would promote stem-cell research involving the destruction of human embryos. Pres. George W. Bush has promised to veto the bill, which the Senate passed earlier. The bill did not pass either chamber by the two-thirds majority needed to overturn a presidential veto, Lyons said.