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  Pro-Lifers In Obamaland
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Last EditedServo  Jan 27, 2009 01:14pm
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MediaMagazine - Newsweek
News DateTuesday, January 27, 2009 07:00:00 PM UTC0:0
Description Sister Sharon Dillon has been attending the annual March for Life for 20 years. A pro-life activist since high school, the 50-year-old former director of the Franciscan Federation doesn't agree with Roe v. Wade—the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion. But as strong as her convictions are, she's also frustrated with the kind of single-minded activism she sees around her: young girls chanting, "hey hey, ho ho, Roe v. Wade has got to go!" "So much time has elapsed since Roe," says Dillon. "I think among veterans, like me, few if any, think the Supreme Court is going to overturn it."

That realization is why she has come to Washington with a different message this year. Dillon is marching with a group called Catholics United who carry a banner that says: "CONGRESS: SUPPORT PREGNANT WOMEN AND REDUCE ABORTIONS NOW!" This is the first time that Dillon has seen any mention of abortion reduction; the battle has always been about Roe and bans. "We need to start thinking in practical terms: what can we do now to reduce abortions?" she says. "And I think that is very pro-life, if we can lower the numbers," she says.

What Dillon is promoting may not sound radical. But to legions of pro-life activists, even the use of the word "reduction" instead of elimination borders on heresy. The pro-life movement began with Roe v. Wade and has, for 36 years, been centered on protest against legal abortion. The idea of lobbying Congress to reduce abortions—rather than ban them outright—strikes many as a wrong-headed signal that tolerating any level of abortion is acceptable. So they have pushed presidents to appoint justices likely to overturn Roe and urged Congress to outlaw at least some types of abortion, like with the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act passed in 2003. But at the march in Washington last Thursday, the leftover signs from the massive celebration of President Obama's inauguration were persistent reminders that such a strategy faces stiff challenges—at l
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