This editorial appeared in The (Raleigh) News & Observer.
A number of anti-abortion activists across the country have looked fully in the face of a Barack Obama presidency and foreseen that, with this ardently pro-choice president in place, chances that the Supreme Court will overturn Roe v. Wade in the next four years will be nil.
They prudently have decided to put their energies toward making abortion a less-attractive choice by strengthening the social programs that would help more pregnant women choose life for the unborn.
Other activists have said that this nod to practicality is selling out, that it undermines the progress the pro-life movement has made.
No one is asking anyone to lay down deeply held moral convictions, but as Douglas W. Kmiec, a Pepperdine University law professor and a Catholic who opposes abortion, asked, "If one strategy has failed and failed over decades, and you have empirical information that tells how you can honor life and encourage women to make that choice by meeting real needs that are existing and tangible, why not do that?"
More than 1.2 million abortions are performed each year in the United States. Any effort from any law-abiding front to reduce that number should be praised.