- Catherine, welcome to the program.
- Pleasure to be here.
- Well, Catherine, thisarticle on the left losing
the abortion battle has drawnattention, especially heading
into an election year.
Why so much interest?
- You know, this articlereally highlights and amplifies
the divisions that we'vealready known are there.
The article talks about everythingthat the right is doing,
that life advocates aredoing, that pro-life people,
just folks from coast to coastare doing in the heartland
to stand for life and tojust support women and girls,
and sometimes difficult situations.
We know what we're doing.
We know how we're standing forlife, and how we're reaching
the American public, and howwe're reaching lawmakers.
What we didn't necessarilyknow, was the depth
of the division on the left.
The depth of the divisionwithin the abortion activism
movement, with people who, itturns out, are quite divided;
culturally, financially, politically,
and in so many other ways.
- We've seen, of course,laws in states like New York,
legalizing abortion right upuntil birth, and even attempts
at legalizing post-birth.
So where does that leave us?
- You know, every time a state tries that,
every time a state like NewYork passes a law like that,
a reproductive health act,they call it, and they light up
the Empire State Buildingpink, and there's cheering
in the streets of New York, you see that,
it is such a small fractionof people who actually
support that, because whenyou look at the polling,
you'll see, even withNew York, an incredible,
a double-digit swing in aone-month period from just before
that RHA, Reproductive HealthAct, passed to just after,
and you saw a double-digitswing and the percentage
of Americans who consideredthemselves pro-life.
Because, in fact, when you see
that the left is trying
to push these radicalpolicies, is trying to push
late-term abortion, istrying to push infanticide,
just an absolutelyhorrible, horrific practice.
Americans say, well, choicesounds like a nice word.
I'd like to consider myself pro-choice,
but if that's what pro-choiceis, I want no part of that.
- Where do the Americanpeople actually line up
on the abortion issue these days?
What are you seeing in the grassroots?
- It is incredible all of theprogress that we are seeing.
When you look at the polling,people don't necessarily
wanna call themselvespro-life or pro-choice.
Both of those terms have gotten a little
politically loaded at times.
But when you start askingabout the facts, when you say,
well, do you think thatabortion is morally okay?
You start seeing people swing and say, no,
that just feels wrong.
When you start talking aboutlife affirming options,
when you start asking people,do you think that there should
be abortions when a child is viable,
when a child couldsurvive outside the womb?
People say, hang on, that isnot what we signed up for,
and, in fact, we absolutely oppose that.
In fact, we did a poll justright after that New York law
went into effect, and wefound that 80% of Americans,
and 2/3 even of self-describedpro-choice Americans,
oppose late-term abortions.
They say, absolutely not,that is a bridge too far.
That is not what we signedup for when we thought
we were pro-choice.
- Well, Catherine, what can we expect
from the pro-life movementgoing forward into 2020,
and how can people pray right now?
- We are building momentum,even just this year,
we saw incredible resultsin the states with 25% more
life-affirming bills passedinto law than we had even
in the previous year.
We are just building every single year.
58 pro-life bills passed into law.
So we are seeing so muchprogress in the states.
We are seeing incredibleefforts at the federal level
as well, can be a littlehard to get those through,
as you know.
Things take a little bitmore time there when you're
a little bit fartherfrom your constituents,
and it can be hard.
But we are seeing so muchprogress at the federal level,
and then the Supreme Courtin March of next year,
we are going to hear oralarguments on what could be
the most important case onabortion since Roe V Wade.
So I would just say, prayfor your representatives,
pray for your senators,and pray for those justices
on the court.
They have a very bigdecision ahead of them.
- Catherine Glenn Foster withAmerican's United for Life.
Thank you so much for yourinsights and being with us today.
- My pleasure.
