A 'barbaric' act: Time to redouble our efforts

Minnesota is getting nationwide attention -- but not in a good way. Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life, writes:

I am sickened by what happened yesterday [May 25], and every decent American should be, too.

Years of hard work by pro-lifers has slowly nudged the Supreme Court to allow more and more laws that protect unborn children. Our analysis is that the Supreme Court will now allow us to pass laws to save unborn babies who are old enough to feel pain. No baby should be aborted, but since the Supreme Court won't allow us to protect all babies yet, we must protect the ones we can.

With National Right to Life's expert help, some states have passed laws banning abortion after 20 weeks – the time by which scientists know an unborn baby can feel pain. Other states are working on such laws.

The moral duty to these little babies is so obvious that these laws are passing in legislatures by wide margins. But yesterday, for the first time, we had a governor say no. Gov. Mark Dayton of Minnesota vetoed the bill that would have saved these babies' lives and prevented their most horrible, painful deaths.

The governor's act was barbaric, and will allow a brutality to continue that should never happen in a civilized society. But it teaches us that passing even this most modest of abortion restrictions will never be accepted by the pro-abortion lobby and those politicians who are their lap dogs. To protect babies' lives, we will have to re-double our efforts to fight them every step of the way. ...

No unborn baby should ever die by choice. No baby should suffer in this brutal way.