WASHINGTON, D.C., JAN. 23, 2004 (Zenit.org).- On the 31st anniversary of the court decision that legalized abortion, a U.S. bishops’ spokeswoman drew a stark picture of where the 1973 ruling put the country.
«Roe vs. Wade gave the United States the most extreme law on abortion in the world, short of China which coerces women to abort their children,» said Cathy Cleaver Ruse, director of planning and information for the bishops’ Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities, on Thursday.
«But Roe vs. Wade did more than change laws, it changed social norms dramatically,» Ruse said. «Thirty-one years after Roe, abortion has become routine.»
Thousands of abortion opponents gathered for a rally and Mass before their annual protest march from the Washington Monument near the White House to the Supreme Court, which handed down the Roe vs. Wade decision that has opened the door to 40 million legal abortions in the United States.
«The decision taught this country that abortion is the compassionate response to a woman with an untimely pregnancy,» Ruse said in a statement. «But the sad reality is that women turn to abortion because they feel they have no other choice.
«And this is the dirty secret of the pro-choice movement: Abortion is a reflection that we have failed to meet the needs of women.»
«Roe v. Wade has been a social experiment on the lives of women and children,» Ruse continued. «But the culture is turning away from abortion. More and more people believe that all children deserve a chance to be born, and that women deserve better than abortion.»
U.S. President George Bush, by telephone from New Mexico, praised the pro-life marchers’ «noble cause.»
«I know that good folks have gathered there on the Mall from every corner of America to take part in the 31st March For Life,» Bush told the pro-life crowd. «And I want you to pass on my best to each one of them in person, please, and tell them how much I appreciate their devotion to such a noble cause.»
Bush noted that he signed a ban on partial-birth abortions last year, and was «vigorously defending» it against court challenges.
