A Formerly Pro-Choice Confession by Motte Brown on 09/07/2006 at 10:00 AM

I was intrigued by the subtitle How Pro-Lifers Become Pro-Lifers. It's an article from Fred Barnes of the Weekly Standard chronicling the stories of how five highly influential individuals became pro-life, including himself and Ronald Reagan.

So think for a moment about these five experiences: Reagan's deciding on signing an abortion bill, Hyde's mulling whether to co-sponsor a pro-abortion measure, Ponnuru's watching as the Summer of Mercy unfolded, Smith's reading pro-euthanasia tracts at his dead friend's home, and our -- my wife and I -- adverse reaction to amniocentesis. One common thread is obvious. All of us, because of the circumstances we found ourselves in, were forced to think about the taking of a life and what that means in both practical and moral terms. Most people avoid thinking about troubling moral issues like abortion or euthanasia. We couldn't.

And I couldn't either.

In my mid-20s, while working for a U.S. Senator, I had a cubicle with a window on the corner of 1st and Constitution in Washington, D.C. On the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, tens of thousands of pro-lifers passed by on their way to the Supreme Court as they do every year: singing, chanting, praying ... and some holding signs of graphic pictures of aborted babies. It was the pictures that forced me to confront what abortion means "in both practical and moral terms."

After 33 years of abortion on demand, it's difficult to find anyone who hasn't been confronted similarly. Some argue it's the very experience of abortion that has caused the next generation to abandon the pro-abortion stance, and the data is bearing this out. According to a 2004 Zogby survey, a full 60 percent of 18-29 year-olds favor "one of the pro-life positions on abortion."

Does all this mean that legalized abortion is near its end? Hopefully, yes.

A Formerly Pro-Choice Confession by Motte Brown on 09/07/2006 at 10:00 AM

I was intrigued by the subtitle How Pro-Lifers Become Pro-Lifers. It's an article from Fred Barnes of the Weekly Standard chronicling the stories of how five highly influential individuals became pro-life, including himself and Ronald Reagan.

So think for a moment about these five experiences: Reagan's deciding on signing an abortion bill, Hyde's mulling whether to co-sponsor a pro-abortion measure, Ponnuru's watching as the Summer of Mercy unfolded, Smith's reading pro-euthanasia tracts at his dead friend's home, and our -- my wife and I -- adverse reaction to amniocentesis. One common thread is obvious. All of us, because of the circumstances we found ourselves in, were forced to think about the taking of a life and what that means in both practical and moral terms. Most people avoid thinking about troubling moral issues like abortion or euthanasia. We couldn't.

And I couldn't either.

In my mid-20s, while working for a U.S. Senator, I had a cubicle with a window on the corner of 1st and Constitution in Washington, D.C. On the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, tens of thousands of pro-lifers passed by on their way to the Supreme Court as they do every year: singing, chanting, praying ... and some holding signs of graphic pictures of aborted babies. It was the pictures that forced me to confront what abortion means "in both practical and moral terms."

After 33 years of abortion on demand, it's difficult to find anyone who hasn't been confronted similarly. Some argue it's the very experience of abortion that has caused the next generation to abandon the pro-abortion stance, and the data is bearing this out. According to a 2004 Zogby survey, a full 60 percent of 18-29 year-olds favor "one of the pro-life positions on abortion."

Does all this mean that legalized abortion is near its end? Hopefully, yes.