Traitors to the Cause? Some Anti-Abortion Activists Now Trying to Reduce Abortions, Not Outlaw Them

Apparently realizing that overturning Roe v. Wade won’t be possible anytime in the near future — especially with Barack Obama as president — a growing number of abortion opponents are scaling back on efforts to outlaw the practice.

Instead, these anti-abortion pastors, conservative academics and activists are focusing on building social programs and developing other assistance for pregnant women to reduce the number of abortions, The Washington Post reports. But they still believe the practice is immoral.

"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?" said Douglas W. Kmiec, a law professor at Pepperdine University who served in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations. Kmiec, a Catholic who opposes abortion, was criticized by some abortion foes because he endorsed Obama for president.

Not only has Obama voiced support for a woman’s right to choose, but voters in several states this year defeated ballot measures that would have restricted access to abortions.

Unbelievably enough, some of the activists are actually working hand-in-hand with abortion rights advocates to push for legislation in Congress that would provide pregnant women with health care, child care and money for education.

And their efforts are causing some in the anti-abortion movement to brand them traitors to the cause.

"It’s a sellout, as far as we are concerned," Joe Scheidler, founder of the Pro-Life Action League, told the Post. "We don’t think it’s really genuine. You don’t have to have a lot of social programs to cut down on abortions."

Meanwhile, a controversial rule President Bush is trying to put in place may go into effect soon.

That rule would prohibit health-care facilities receiving federal money from discriminating against doctors, nurses and other health-care workers who refuse to perform or to assist in the performance of abortions or sterilization procedures because of their “religious beliefs or moral convictions.”

But The New York Times reports that even the government agency that enforces job discrimination laws has joined the chorus of protests from women and family-planning groups, and others, against the rule.

Three officials from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission say the proposal would overturn 40 years of civil-rights law prohibiting job discrimination based on religion. They also say neither the Department of Health and Human Services nor the White House consulted their agency before issuing the proposed rule.

HHS intends to issue a final version of the rule within days. Aides and advisers to President-elect Obama say he would try to rescind it, but that process could take three to six months.