Congressman Trent Franks
Townhall
February 19, 2005


On January 14, 2005, Norma McCorvey, the woman formerly known as
Jane Roe, petitioned for a Writ of Certiorari with the Supreme Court
of the United States formally asking the Court to reverse or reopen
the Roe v. Wade on its merits. It seems odd that this potentially
landmark event has taken place virtually unnoticed.

While we do not know what the Court will ultimately do, it is
important to remind ourselves of the grave devastation the decision
in Roe v. Wade has brought to bear on individual families and this
nation. Each time an abortion takes place, a nameless little baby
dies a tragic and lonely death, a mother is never the same, and all
the gifts that child might have brought to humanity are lost
forever.

The basis for this appeal is that abortion in fact hurts women.
That is, contrary to the rationale in Roe v. Wade and after more
than 30 years of reflection and experience, abortion is not the
burden relieving act in a womans life that it was portrayed to
be; it is not good and safe for women.

Nor can we forget the loss of over 40 million American lives since
January 22, 1973. It is astonishing to think about its many
implications. We would not be discussing a Social Security crisis
or shortage in our military force numbers if Roe v. Wade had been
decided differently. It is time for all of us to come together and
care for mothers and their unborn children enough to find a better
answer than abortion.

We must recognize that imposing abortion on demand on America was
one of the darkest disgraces ever to come from the Court. It taints
us all in our tolerance of it, and it is an inhumanity that cannot
stand. Roe v. Wade was a lawless decision that found a right not
stated within the Constitution, involved the Courts exercise of a
legislative power, violated the judicial oath of administering
justice without respect to persons, and denied the unalienable
right to life of the unborn. Roe v. Wade was repugnant to a states
highest duty, that is, the duty to protect innocent human life.
However, I am hopeful. Hopeful, because I believe this is an
opportunity for the Justices to correct a horrendous error made in
the past, which was based on poor evidence and faulty justification.
We must encourage the Justices to do justice, and not to take this
Dred Scott decision to their graves. It is an opportunity for
redemption, for healing in this nation, and for justice to be
returned to those who so desperately need it but cannot speak for
themselves. Ultimately, if we as a society cannot find the will or
the courage to protect mothers and their unborn children, in the
final analysis, we will never truly find the courage to protect any
kind of liberty for anyone.

The women who have suffered from the tragic repercussions of
abortion deserve to have this case overturned. Abortion does not
serve to protect women; it deceives them in one of the most
insidious ways possible. It says, Choose me and you will have a
much easier way ahead. When, in reality, the depths of despair
have not yet been dreamed of until after a mother has walked down
the desolate road of hiring another to take the life of her child.
Norma McCorvey learned through her own difficult and painful
experience. Let us not continue down this road to destruction. I
ask and plead with the Court to reconsider the case take in the
evidence so hurtfully gained and reverse this devastating plague
in our land.

Congressman Trent Franks represents the Second District of Arizona.
He serves as Vice-Chair of the Constitution Subcommittee of the U.S.
House Committee on the Judiciary. He is also a member of the Armed
Services Committee.