Conservatives Anxious About Pro-Life Agenda During Bush's 2nd Term
by Jenni Parker and Fred Jackson
November 4, 2004
(AgapePress) - While pro-lifers are hoping President Bush's re-election will bode ill for legalized abortion in America, a powerful Republican has a warning for conservatives who believe last Tuesday's victory will lead to more pro-life judges on the federal bench.Pro-lifers are hailing President George W. Bush's success in securing a second term in Tuesday's U.S. presidential election as a strategic victory in the ongoing battle to end legalized abortion. Many political analysts have declared that the moral issues-concerned and faith-based "values voters" were instrumental in the Republican incumbent's win. And now that Bush's agenda has won its reprieve, some pro-lifers are calling on Bush to repay the debt.
Operation Rescue's Troy Newman notes, "The moral conservative and religious voter turned out in droves and has proven to be the backbone of the Republican Party." His pro-life organization spent the last three weeks prior to November 2 in Ohio and Pennsylvania, exposing John Kerry's support for a "culture of death," and Newman believes that effort helped propel Bush to victory in the ultimately decisive state of Ohio.
Now the president of Operation Rescue has a message for Bush. "Mr. President, you have been given a mandate to end abortion in our nation by the American people who cast their votes for you," Newman declares. "Please move forward aggressively to appoint pro-life federal judges, and when the time comes, appoint Supreme Court justices that will strike down the scourge of Roe v. Wade."
Newman goes on to tell Bush that Operation Rescue and other pro-lifers are pleading with the president "to act courageously on behalf of the innocent babies" and that they are praying for him toward that end. However, some pro-lifers are less hopeful about the Commander in Chief's response.
Judie Brown of the American Life League says she cannot share in the enthusiasm of those groups that are gleefully equating a victory for Bush with a victory for the sanctity of life. While it is true, she acknowledges, "that Mr. Bush defeated one of the most solidly pro-abortion candidates to ever seek the White House," she says it is also true that "the Bush administration's first term has been less than sterling in terms of total commitment to the pro-life effort."
Specter's Caveat Against Conservative Judicial Nominees
In addition to that concern, now pro-lifers are facing opposition from an unexpected quarter. Pennsylvania's Senator Arlen Specter, believed by many to be the most probable new head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has offered George W. Bush some advice on choosing Supreme Court nominees. He warns the president that he should not bother sending up any judges that would seek to overturn Roe v. Wade, because they will not be confirmed.
Specter says Bush is "well aware" of what happened when he sent up judicial picks that were too conservative to have a reasonable expectation of confirmation. They were filibustered by U.S. Senate Democrats and, the Pennsylvania senator would suggest, quite naturally so.
Now, with at least three Supreme Court justices rumored to be eyeing retirement, the Judiciary Committee's chairman would have broad authority to reshape the nation's highest court and could make the confirmation process as easy or as hard as that official so desired. And with Republicans controlling 55 seats in the new Senate, Majority Leader Bill Frist says he is confident that Bush will have more success his second term.
| | 
Jan LaRue |
Jan LaRue of Concerned Women for America (CWA) believes Specter may well have disqualified himself from chairing the Senate Judiciary Committee. She says the Republican senator has "repeatedly made it clear that he will block appointments of federal judges who do not pass his pro-abortion litmus test," while Bush has said his only litmus test for judges is whether they will "interpret the law and not write it."CWA has sent a letter to Bill Frist and all the members of the Judiciary Committee, expressing concern over the fact that Specter has dismissed as "unlikely" the notion that he would allow any nominee who does not support the Roe v. Wade decision that established abortion as a "right" in America to be confirmed. The letter states that Specter has "signaled in advance that he does not intend to conduct the Judiciary Committee in a fair and impartial manner," and has therefore disqualified himself from being considered to chair it.
Because Specter is openly opposed to the president and the Constitution on this issue, CWA's LaRue remarks, "It goes without saying that it is absolutely unacceptable to use 'Specter vision' to critique judicial nominees." Basically, she says by promising to block any pro-life or ultra-conservative nominees, Specter may well have effectively "borked" himself out of a highly influential position.
