I have been reading the news lately, and marveling over the many state
governments that have chosen not to comply with the Clinton
administration's order to pay for abortions in cases of rape, incest and
threats to the life of the mother. There are those who argue that the
federal directive takes precedence over the state laws in question and
there are those who argue that every state has a right through its elected
officials to regulate abortion as it sees fit, regardless of what any
federal agency or the president of the United States has to say.
Okay, so they will battle that point out in court. We all know that. But
I have to wonder why we have forgotten Christmas Eve 1993 and the
preceding Congressional action on the Hyde Amendment. Or have we simply
chosen to look past our mistakes as pro-life leaders?
What am I talking about? First of all, the new Hyde Amendment, as passed
in 1993, expands payment for abortion for the first time in over 15 years.
The new language, which Hyde offered, allows payment for the deaths of
pre-born children conceived by alleged acts of rape or incest as well as
those pre-born children who are deemed to threaten the life of the mother.
This new Hyde language does not speak to the criminal charges or
investigations when a woman claims that she has become pregnant either
because of rape or incest. Thus, the new language invited President
Clinton to make his Christmas Eve 1993 announcement, which was that he
would order all states to comply with the new Congressional language and
pay, with our tax dollars, for abortion in alleged cases of rape, incest,
or threats to the life of the mother. No criminal charges need to be filed
against alleged rapists.
But wait. Douglas Johnson of the National Right to Life Committee says
that "the Clinton administration is relentlessly seeking to expand
government funding of abortions..." and he says that the Clinton
administration went back on its "promise" last December.
Pro-lifers got a promise from the Clinton administration that no sweeping
directives would be issued if they worked with Hyde and others to expand
Medicaid abortion payments. After all, Congress would no longer sustain
only "life of the mother" language, and so, with the promise in hand,
pro-life Congressmen approved more babies for death.
I am so sorry that the pro-life movement ever offered the first exception,
or stood silently by when that first exception was even brought up in the
mid-1970s, for now we are facing a rabidly pro-death president who
actually deceived people like Johnson into believing something that came
from the mouth of a member of the Clinton administration. Those
individuals had made it perfectly clear months earlier that more dead
babies were better than fewer.
I would feel even sorrier than I do if I could imagine any of us suffering
the way one of those babies suffers just before he or she dies during the
act of abortion.
I could say, "I told you so," but that would not save any lives either.
We all helped bake this bitter bread and now we must simply throw it out
and start over.
It is time, my dear friends, co-workers and our partners in politics, to
stop calling abortion an issue, stop playing political football with the
lives of the little ones, and stop accepting promises from those who have
obviously aborted their own consciences.
Each and every one of us should accept responsibility for what the Clinton
administration did on Christmas Eve, and then we should resolve that such
a tragedy will never happen again as long as the Lord is gracious enough
to retain us as His watchmen; that we might "hear the word... and tell it
to others." (Ez 3:17)
To Johnson, Hyde and all those who are battling now against the evil which
Satan has brought upon our nation, I say: in the peace of Christ, Son of
the living Cod, let us focus on the child and remember the words of
Professor Jerome LeJeune-"We have human rights laws. Now we need laws on
the right to be human."
No exceptions, no compromise- total protection, please.
Brown is president of the American Life League, Stafford.
This article appeared in the July 21, 1994 issue of "The Arlington
Herald," 200 N. Glebe Rd., Ste. 607, Arlington, VA 22203-3797, (703)
841-2565.
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