FAQ

• What is Pro-Life Strategy 2.0?
• What is wrong with our current political strategy (Pro-Life Strategy 1.0)?
• What is the advantage of Pro-Life Strategy 2.0?
• Why haven’t more pro-life politicians advocated this strategy?
• What can we do to spread Pro-Life Strategy 2.0?

What is Pro-Life Strategy 2.0?

This strategy uses the specifically defined power of the Congress, as defined in the United States Constitution (Article III, Section 2), to regulate the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction as to what kinds of cases it can hear. The Congress has this power and has exercised it before as it did, for example, in the Reconstruction-era Ex parte McCardle decision. In that case, Justice Chase, who wrote the court’s opinion, conceded that such a power is constitutional:

We are not at liberty to inquire into the motives of the legislature. We can only examine into its power under the Constitution; and the power to make exceptions to the appellate jurisdiction of this court is given by express words. What, then, is the effect of the repealing act upon the case before us? We cannot doubt as to this. Without jurisdiction the court cannot proceed at all in any cause. Jurisdiction is power to declare the law, and when it ceases to exist, the only function remaining to the court is that of announcing the fact and dismissing the cause.

Therefore, if the Congress removed the abortion issue from the hands of the Supreme Court, the power to decide the legality of abortion would return to the states.

What is wrong with our current political strategy (Pro-Life Strategy 1.0)?

The current strategy of electing a president who might appoint enough Supreme Court justices to overturn Roe vs. Wade by a Supreme Court decision depends on too many uncontrollable variables. For example, electing a pro-life president does not mean that president will appoint pro-life judges. In the past 27 years, we have had 3 Republican presidents, all claiming to be pro-life, who have occupied the White House for a combined total of 19 years. In those 19 years, these presidents have appointed three Supreme Court justices who are pro-abortion-rights (Sandra Day O’Connor, David Souter, and Anthony Kennedy), two who are definitely pro-life (Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia) and two who have yet to definitively demonstrate their position on abortion (John Roberts and Samuel Alito). From this evidence, we can see that this approach to the pro-life political fight is a very hit-or-miss matter with a highly unpredictable success ratio. When it comes to something so serious as abortion, where literally millions of lives are at stake, we need a more effective solution. Hesitation in this matter literally costs lives.

What is the advantage of Pro-Life Strategy 2.0?

Pro-Life Strategy 2.0 brings the abortion fight back down to the state level, rather than a national level. First, we can pressure our local representatives to the United States Congress to support measures that seek to remove jurisdiction from the Supreme Court. Some Congressmen, like Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, have sought to introduce such bills, but they have been ignored by his so-called pro-life peers. If the pro-life movement as a whole adopts Strategy 2.0, we can mobilize and pressure our Representatives and Senators to stop taking a passive approach to the abortion issue and start working to return the issue of abortion’s legality back to the states.

Once this first battle is won, the pro-life battle can be fought at an even more local level. It will be up to the state legislatures to ban abortion in each state. Remember, the more locally we wage this political battle, the more influence each individual has to influence the outcome, because our local representatives are more accessible than our distant representatives in DC. Also, right off the bat, abortion would be restricted in the 16 states (plus the District of Columbia) that have laws against abortion that precede Roe vs. Wade but were never repealed (AL, AZ, AR, CA, CO, DE, DC, MA, MI, MS, NH, NM, OK, TX, VT, WV, WI). Three more states (IL, KY, LA) have laws declaring that abortion will be prohibited if Roe vs. Wade is overturned. Four more states (MO, NE, ND, PA) have laws declaring their intent to restrict abortion to the fullest extent allowed by the Constitution. So almost immediately after removing jurisdiction from the Supreme Court, prohibitions against abortion will exist in almost half of the United States. This would be the greatest pro-life victory since this battle began in 1973.

Why haven’t more pro-life politicians advocated this strategy?

Fr. Frank Pavone, head of Priests for Life, has suggested that many pro-life politicians want to lay the burden of banning abortion on the Supreme Court because it is too controversial a topic. They see it as a political “hot potato” that they want out of their laps. We agree with Fr. Pavone’s assessment. Further, we believe that many politicians see abortion as a political football that can instantly win them the uncompromising support of certain constituencies (orthodox Catholics, for example). For them, it is politically expedient for abortion to remain legal at a national level so that those who are desperate to fight abortion will always support them, despite whatever other policies such politicians may profess.

What can we do to spread Pro-Life Strategy 2.0?

At every level of government, from the presidency down to our state representatives, we must find out whether our so-called pro-life politicians will support this strategy and hold them accountable. This matters first and foremost at the national level (i.e. the presidency and members of Congress). Research the candidates and find out if they support removing abortion jurisdiction from the federal government and returning it to the states. If you can’t find an answer, write or call the candidates and force them to address this issue. We, as pro-lifers, need to force pro-life politicians to put their money where their mouth is. Opposition to Pro-Life Strategy 2.0 (i.e. refusing to let the issue be decided at the state level) means they want to drag their feet and persist with Pro-Life Strategy 1.0, which will continue to allow the murder of thousands of children every day throughout all of the United States of America. This is unacceptable. For the unborn, we demand results NOW.