PRI: Doug Kmiec Outside Pro-Life Mainstream, Wrong on Facts

Front Royal, VA, 11/19/08 – The pro-life Population Research
Institute (PRI) has criticized Pepperdine
University law professor Doug Kmiec
, saying that Kmiec’s stance on abortion places him well outside the pro-life mainstream, and is based on false arguments.

Mr. Kmiec’s open disavowal of pro-life legislative initiatives, his disparagement of the work of crisis pregnancy centers, and his public support for pro-abortion candidates, places him well outside the pale of our movement, said Colin Mason, PRI’s media director.

According to Steven Mosher, PRI’s President, Kmiec’s case rest on two claims, both of which are demonstrably false. Kmiec claims pro-life legislative and community service efforts to date have largely failed to reduce the number of abortions, and that pro-choice candidates like Barack Obama will do what pro-lifers have not done, that is, extend financial and psychological succor to women in crisis pregnancies.

Says Mosher, Pro-lifers have proposed, and state legislature have passed, a considerably number of restrictions on abortion at the state level. These laws have prevented a great many abortions, saving lives that would have otherwise been lost to abortion. States that have strict abortion laws, like South Dakota, have seen the number of abortions cut in half. States with parental consent laws, waiting periods, and informed consent laws have also seen marked decreases in the abortion rate. Kmiec is wrong to dismiss as ineffective the considerable restrictions on abortion that have been put in place to date. To me, his arguments read like a preemptive justification for the so-called Freedom of Choice Act, that would overturn all of these laws.

As far as Kmiec’s claim that pro-lifers have failed to provide adequate support to unwed mothers, this is also false. Hundreds of thousands of pro-life volunteers in the U.S. run crisis pregnancy centers, teach abstinence, engage in sidewalk counseling, and encourage adoption. Mr. Kmiec apparently supports an infusion of federal funds, says Mosher. But if you throw federal money at the problem, where will it wind up? In the hands of beltway bandits like Planned Parenthood, of course.

Kmiec is shilling for the abortion movement, Mosher concludes, and he is insulting dedicated pro-lifers in the process. Our people have dedicated their lives to helping women avoid the bad choice of abortion, and caring for them through crisis pregnancies. Our incremental approach to the abortion problem, coupled with the love and support for mothers and babies, has produced the best results in reducing abortions.

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