Sunday, February 23, 2025

The Catholic Tradition Podcast: 153 – The Misplaced Radical Historical past of the Professional-Life Motion


Feb 9, 2023

One would possibly assume abortion has at all times been a
hot-button matter in American politics because the Supreme Court docket
ruling legalizing it in 1973. However that’s not the case. The US
pro-life motion was so non-robust for a few years that by 1987,
abortion was not even one of many prime 10 points for American voters.
Then out of the blue, in ABC’s 1988 election exit ballot, abortion had shot
to the primary concern for voters. What made abortion right into a
political litmus take a look at so out of the blue?

Operation Rescue was what occurred. Little
remembered now, OR was, imagine it or not, the most important civil
disobedience in American historical past. Between 1987 and 1994, about
75,000 pro-life activists have been arrested for peacefully interfering
with abortion clinic operations – that is ten instances extra individuals
arrested than in your complete civil rights motion.

And although Operation Rescue rapidly fizzled
out in 1994 due to the Clinton administration’s FACE Act
(just lately used to prosecute Mark Houck), it gave the pro-life
motion the jump-start it wanted to get us to the overturning of
Roe v. Wade. Arguably, have been it not for Operation Rescue, the U.S.
can be very like Europe, with even anti-abortion conservatives
kind of accepting it because the “regulation of the land”, and little
political will to combat it.

It’s a nice honor, then, to have the founder
of Operation Rescue on the Catholic Tradition Podcast. Randall Terry,
who ran OR for its first few years and was arrested 50 instances for
his pro-life activism, is producing a documentary
collection, Dragonslayers, which can inform the historical past of
OR utilizing many hours of wonderful footage that exists from the time.
He’s at the moment elevating funds in order that the collection may be made.

Randall joins the present to speak about OR and
its decisive function within the historical past of the pro-life motion, the necessity
for direct motion within the pro-life trigger as we speak, and the political
instruments that will likely be indispensable for ending abortion in all 50
states – which he calls Randall’s Guidelines for Righteous
Revolution.

Hyperlinks

Donate to help the documentary manufacturing
and discover pro-life coaching assets at www.RandallTerry.com

Ep. 2 of the Catholic Tradition Podcast – “The
Largest Civil Disobedience Motion in U.S. Historical past”, with Invoice
Cotter and Phil Lawler
https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-2-largest-civil-disobedience-movement-in-us-history

DONATE to make this present attainable! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Go to Catholic Tradition’s web site for tons of
written content material, together with information, articles, liturgical yr information,
and an unlimited library of paperwork: https://www.catholicculture.org



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