www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Ronald Reagan: A Pro-Life Hero

Ronald Reagan: A Pro-Life Hero, Champion on Abortion

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
June 5, 2004

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- After battling with Alzheimer's and deteriorating health for years, former president Ronald Reagan passed away on Saturday afternoon. For the pro-life community, Reagan was the first genuine pro-life president after almost a decade of living under the Roe v. Wade decision.

Reagan was the only sitting president to write a book while in office and, fittingly, "Abortion and the Conscience of a Nation" was a celebration of the pro-life perspective and an encouragement for the pro-life community to never give up.

"Make no mistake, abortion-on-demand is not a right granted by the Constitution. No serious scholar, including one disposed to agree with the Court's result, has argued that the framers of the Constitution intended to create such a right," Reagan wrote.

"Despite the formidable obstacles before us, we must not lose heart," Reagan added.

"As a nation today, we have not rejected the sanctity of human life," Reagan wrote. "The American people have not had an opportunity to express their view on the sanctity of human life in the unborn. I am convinced that Americans do not want to play God with the value of human life. It is not for us to decide who is worthy to live and who is not."

As a vocally pro-life president, Congressman Henry Hyde, himself a pro-life champion, says Reagan "gave the right to life position stature and legitimacy."

Yet, Mike Spence, the Vice President of the California Pro-Life Council, says there is "a concerted effort to "excise" Ronald Reagan's strong pro-life message from the history of his administration."

"There are individuals -- even Republicans -- who either didn't understand or chose to oppose this great man's commitment to the founding principles of our Republic and the preeminence of the right to life' as the structural foundation for sound and just government," Spence added.

One effort to undo the Reagan legacy comes in the battle over embryonic stem cell research.

Reagan's wife Nancy has been leading the charge for the destructive research, which involves the destruction of unborn children in their first days of life in order to extract their stem cells.

Nancy Reagan has asked President George W. Bush to rescind his policy of preventing any federal funding of embryonic stem cell research.

Though she cites cures for others afflicted with Alzheimer's disease as a potential beneficiary, the request would likely go against the wishes of the former president, who strongly opposed the use of federal tax dollars to fund abortions.

Nationally syndicated columnist Fred Barnes calls Reagan the "father of the pro-life movement."

When President Bush signed the ban on partial-birth abortions, the first bill banning any kind of abortions since Roe, "that was the embrace by conservatives of the antiabortion cause" of Reagan," Barnes wrote.

"Why did Mr. Reagan's take on abortion matter so much? Because he was not only president but also the undisputed leader of America's conservatives. He defined conservatism. Not every conservative agreed with him, but most did," Barnes explained.

"When President Bush signed the partial-birth abortion ban, it was fitting that the event was held at the Ronald Reagan Building, a few blocks from the White House," Barnes added.

Without President Reagan, Barnes said, it may never have happened.

Dear Pani Rose,

Thank you for calling attention to President Reagan's love for unborn children threatened by abortion.

All those children in heaven will call out to Christ our God to say, "Have mercy on his soul, O Lord, We were unborn children, he worked to protect us."

Eternal memory!

Paul

Paul,

Amen and Amen!!


Jesus Christ is glorified!

While I don't wish to speak ill of the dead, Reagan had a chance to act, not just speak, on his supposed prolife convictions in 1980 when he had a Republican congress and chose to concentrate on his supply side economic program instead. Many prolifers were and are convinced that he gave us a lot of words and no action to insure that the prolife vote would be safely in the Republican camp. It should also be pointed out that he was the first governor to sign a bill legalizing abortion in his state. He also pioneered the tactic of having his wife imply that she was prochoice, thus sending a message to proabortion voters that there was no threat to legal abortion, a tactic that subsequent Republican "prolife" presidents have imitated.
May Ronald Reagan rest in peace, and may God have mercy on his soul.

Dear Iconophile,

I beg to differ with your assessment of Mr. Reagan's actions on abortion. I was a leader in the pro-life movement during both President Reagan's terms. Begining in 1981 when President Reagan took office he supported and signed into law the "Hyde Amendment" which prohibits spending federal funds for abortion.

As President, Mr. Reagan spoke out against abortion on numerous ocaisions. Using the "bully pulpit" he used his persuasiveness to tell the nation of the evils of abortion. Read any of his state of the union addresses for confirmation of this.

President's Reagan's book "Abortion and the Conscience of a Nation" champions protection of the unborn and infirm.

President Reagan used his executive office in the "President's Sanctity of Human Life Proclamation" which is a legal basis to overturn Roe v Wade.

http://www.abbottloop.org/alconweb/pol_news/sanclife.htm

Regardless of any shortcomings of President Reagan in life issues, he is unequivically the most pro-life president since Roe v. Wade.

God bless you,

Paul

Iconophile is correct in stating that Ronald Reagan was not perfect.

President Reagan�s major contribution to the pro-life effort was giving it respectability. Prior to his becoming president, we pro-lifers were looked upon as fringe lunatics. President Reagan�s pro-life voice is largely responsible for the growth of the pro-life movement in the 1980s (this is admitted by most of the pro-life leaders of that era).

Some of his greatest failures (which he has publicly admitted) are signing a law intended to limit abortions in California (late 1960�s) and his Supreme Court appointee. The abortion law was intended to restrict abortions but was so loaded with exceptions it really did the exact opposite. For the Supreme Court he originally nominated Robert Bork, who was rejected by the Senate (for many reasons, but mostly because he was pro-life). He then nominated Douglas Ginsburg but Ginsburg withdrew because he had smoked marijuana while a professor at Harvard. His third nominee was Anthony Kennedy, who did win approval but turned out to be an abortionist and always sides with the pro-abortion wing of the Supreme Court.

Iconphile seems to be buying the revisionist tactics of the left, which are trying to play down Reagan�s dedication to the Pro-Life movement.

Revisonist leftist rhetoric? Hmm. No, I am just stating the opinion of the radical prolife circles I moved in at that time around DC. Of course National Right to Life loved Reagan; they were always happy to compromise and were content with speeches. They also were and are subservient to the Republican party.
I certainly admit that Mr Reagan at least used his "bully pulpit" -and his ghost-written book- to make the prolife argument. I suppose I should be grateful for that but he also squandered the one moment in modern history when a prolife victory was winnable.
And very interesting spin on the liberal California abortion law...
Please folks, he was an affable fellow and all, but let's not canonize him. What he did was something short of heroic.

Dear Iconophile,

I don�t think anyone here is canonizing President Reagan. He was a sinner, just like the rest of us. He is admired because he called evil by name and acted with deliberation to destroy it. For that we should be grateful.

Your take on things in DC in the 1980�s is interesting. I was here in DC then and was very active in pro-life activities. You make Reagan sound like he only paid lip service to pro-lifers and didn�t really care about the pro-life cause. That is a total perversion of the truth.

I do agree with your assessment of the National Right to Life group during the 1980�s. They compromised too much. Yet I agree with Reagan�s philosophy that it is better to get 80% of what you want then to go over the cliff with your flag still intact.

Does it really matter so much if President Reagan made use of a ghostwriter to prepare his pro-life book? Do you feel better for distastefully telling us something we already know? Your hatred for the man is clear.

Admin

Dear Friends,

In my mind any one who implemented the "Hyde ammendment" which saved countless unborn babies from death by abortion is a hero.

President Reagan, hero and champion of the unborn, is enough for me. Talk of canonization (even rhetorically) is inappropriate.

Paul

Dear Administrator,
You are usually the one scolding posters for rashly accusing others of evil motives, not the one making the accusation. No, I did not and do not hate Mr Reagan; indeed, even when I disagreed with him I found him an affable, likeable guy. I was a little suspicious that this was an act until he took Hinckley's bullet and still was joking around.
I was only pointing out that his prolife work, in my opinion, fell something short of heroic, and that he chose to not risk his political career over the issue.
And if you recall, the Hyde amendment was controversial among prolifers at the time and was considered a compromise by many, when the more restrictive Helms amendment appeared passable.

Does anyone know of President Reagan's thoughts on embryonic stem cell research? In light of her husband's illness, Mrs. Reagan has been quite vocal in her support of embryonic stem cell research.

Dear Fr. Deacon John,

I don't think that embryonic stem cell research using human tissues existed when Mr. Reagan was in office.

If Ronald Reagan made a stand in favor of stem cell reasearch using human tissue I think it would be covered extensively by the the news media. The pro-stem cell reaserch people would would love to publicize support for their cause from a known pro-life president.

Paul

From what I have read, Pres. Regan would not have been in favor of stem cell research.

Paul,

OOPS, you're right, I misread the year of breakthrough research, 1998, which I read as 1989.

Pani Rose,

you may be correct as to President Reagan's presumed thought. Unfortunately, Mrs. Reagan does not share the presumed sentiment.

Yes, I'm (re)reading Peggy Noonan's wonderful book, "What I Saw At the Revolution", and she says that President Reagan was pro-life, but his wife and children did not share his beliefs in this area.