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Land doesn't deny that women who have abortions might be addled, but he, along with Yoest, Earll, and Gans, takes exception to them being described as bystanders—or as enlightened women making free, educated choices.

"It's not demeaning to assume that any person who is a mother who could make the decision to do this must be suffering from some form of psychological impairment because of the crisis of the pregnancy or because of societal demeaning of human life," Land said.

Gans said the primary responsibility should fall to those with the information necessary to make an educated choice. "The only advice [women with unwanted pregnancies] are being given [is from] the very people who stand to gain from our circumstances," she said. "I have heard my sisters say again and again, 'I didn't think I had any choice. I wasn't told there were any other choices I could make.'"

She believes that those who perform abortions are doing it for the money. "We know as a rule that if you approach this subject with civil remedies, abortionists get out of the business of abortion."

Would making most abortion procedures illegal cause women to seek deadly, unprofessional abortions? Almost certainly not, Earll said. "What we saw with abortion is that when it's illegal, most women don't try to have one. The law is a teacher in this."

Moreover, it's a false assumption that even legal abortions are safe, said Yoest. "Women are still at serious risk. Abortion is the most unregulated health provider industry in the country today. We don't keep good records of outcomes of abortion for women."

Illegal abortion remains many steps off, even if Roe were overturned tomorrow. If the Supreme Court reversed the 1973 decision and the issue of abortion were returned to the states, Land said he would expect a range of laws across the U. S. defining permissible types and circumstances of abortion. He does not expect abortion to be entirely outlawed or restricted to saving the life of the mother in any state.

Some pro-life leaders think the very question of whether a woman should do time for an abortion indicates that the tide is turning on Roe v. Wade. While planning for illegalized abortion is speculative, Land, Gans, and Earll believe that Roe will be reversed some day—sooner rather than later, said Land. "It'll happen in my lifetime. And I'm 60." The pro-life movement, he added, is prepared for the subsequent changes.

"When you see the laws changing," said Gans, who believes the reversal of Roe is a long way off, "You see women looking for what they really want—what they told us again and again in study after study are real help, real assistance, and real alternatives that provide for them and their unborn children."

Copyright © 2007 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

The president of Americans United for Life wrote about the history of abortion prosecution in a National Review Online symposium about Quindlen's column.

Recent articles on legislation and abortion are in our life ethics section and include:

Q&A: Rep. Heath Shuler | Shuler, a Democratic Congressman from North Carolina who ran as a social conservative, defeated a Republican incumbent in 2006. (June 26, 2007)

Partial Reversal | The Supreme Court's abortion decision shows that the arguments have changed. (May 14, 2007)

Don't Cede the High Ground | Our abortion views don't rest on sociological data. (March 25, 2007)

Total Victory on Partial-Birth Abortion | Prolife leaders applaud Supreme Court's first regulation on an abortion procedure. (March 19, 2007)

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August (Web-only) 2007, Vol. 51