USA Today did a front page story speculating on what would happen in the unlikely case that Roe v. Wade is overturned in the near future. Their analysis shows that twenty-two state legislatures would likely ban or severely restrict the practice of abortion; sixteen states could be expected to continue access to abortion with few or no restrictions; and twelve states are somewhere in the middle.

The pro-abortion lobby has seized on these reports in an effort to swell their ranks and raise big money so they can mount expensive media campaigns to influence the U.S Senate against confirming another Supreme Court Justice who might not see abortion as a constitutional right, which it isn’t.

Pro-life support is growing. Young people, in particular, are getting the message. Press on!

AUL Releases Pro-Life Legal Guide 
Americans United for Life, the Chicago-based pro-life public interest law firm, has released a new legal guide, “Defending Life 2006.” AUL describes the guide as its “first annual comprehensive guide to pro-life law and policy in the states.

The guide identifies the states in which abortions would be banned “if Roe v. Wade was overturned tomorrow.” It rates “the 10 best and worst states for human life in 2006” and outlines “what is happening in the states right now.”

The 520-page book also outlines AUL’s recommended model legislation and a summary of pro-life laws in various states. Information about the guide is available at 312/492-7234.

Oglala Sioux Attempt to Circumvent SD Abortion Ban 
In case you haven’t thought about it, American Indian reservations are nations unto themselves — nations within a nation, so to speak. Because federally recognized American Indian tribes are not, in many cases, required to abide by state law, an abortion clinic could operate lawfully at South Dakota’s 1.7 million-acre Pine Ridge reservation, despite the state’s recently enacted abortion ban, according to state Attorney General Larry Long. “An Indian reservation is a sovereign nation, and we’re going to take it as far as we can to exercise our sovereignty,” said Cecilia Fire Thunder, a former nurse who is the Oglala Sioux Tribe’s first female president. (Baltimore Sun, 4/2/06)

Not so fast, Ms. Fire Thunder! Patrick Lee of Rapid City, a retired chief judge for the Oglala Sioux Tribe and current instructor in tribal law, treaties, and federal Indian law at Oglala Lakota College, challenged Ms. Fire Thunder in a Forum piece in the Rapid City Journal on April 8, 2006. In his column Mr. Lee said offering abortions on the reservation would conflict with tribal law and a pervasive respect for life among the Oglala.

“Life is sacred — the winged, two-legged, four-legged. You hear constant references to respect for life,” Lee said. “It’s the tribal law. She could ask the tribe to change the law. And that would be an uphill battle.”

He said a specific portion of the juvenile code clarified the tribe’s respect for the unborn: “a child conceived, but not born, is to be deemed an existing person so far as may be necessary for its interests and welfare to be protected in the event of its subsequent birth.”

The Playboy Legacy 
Matthew Scully, writing for the Wall Street Journal (3/31/06) about the occasion of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner’s 80th birthday, said this: “. . . you won’t find too many women these days who think that the world is better because of Playboy or the smug, selfish ethic it has always purveyed. For good reason has the Playboy Foundation long been a benefactor to NARAL Pro-Choice American and Planned Parenthood: The Playboy Philosophy has always been for the ladies, too, all right — just so long as they remember what they’re good for, don’t get too sentimental and feel grateful when the playboy in their own life offers to pay for the abortion.”