Now that the Republicans George Bush and Ronald Regan have both moved out of the White House and into the history books, it’s time for pro-lifers to assess their administrations.

Under both men, federal government spending on abortion was curtailed. The armed forces, third world relief agencies and medical clinics were prevented from using federal funds to promote or provide abortion. For that we should be grateful. But, funding issues are not the heart of the abortion battle.

In the United States, the battle over abortion is a fight over Roe vs. Wade. In that 1973 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that abortion is a woman’s constitutional right and that no state can pass a law which substantially interferes with abortion access.

As long as that ruling stands, there is abortion on demand in the United States, and no President deserves to be called pro-life if he fails to do whatever he can to overturn Roe vs. Wade in the courts.

During the course of their twelve years in office, Presidents Reagan and Bush appointed five judges to the nine-member Supreme Court. Those judges are Sandra Day O’Connor, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, David Souter and Clarence Thomas. By 1991, a majority of the Supreme Court had been appointed by two presidents who had received the endorsement of American pro-life groups. Pro-lifers began to speak of the overturning of Roe vs. Wade as in evitable.

The court sent shock waves through the pro-life movement when it rendered its Casey decision in June 1992. In that case, the Supreme Court ruled on the constitutionality of a Pennsylvania law which, among other things, required parental notice and informed consent. Though the court upheld most of this mildly restrictive law, the judges also ruled by a five to four majority that Roe vs. Wadewas good law and would not be overturned.

So did one of the Republican appointments turn out not to be pro-life after all? No, not one, but three of the five judges appointed by Bush and Reagan ruled that Roe could not be overturned. They were O’Connor, Kennedy, and Souter.

As an added piece of irony consider this: of the four judges on the court who were not appointed by Reagan or Bush, two of them (White and Rehnquist) voted in favour of overturning Roe. This mean that the judges appointed by earlier Presidents were doing better – in pro-life terms – than those appointed by Reagan and Bush.

In their shared written decision, O’Connor, Kennedy and Souter stated that the hands of the Court were tied; that it would bring the Court into disrepute to overturn an earlier decision. What they conveniently failed to mention is that the Supreme Court had already overturned itself on other issues. For instance, in 1973, the Court declared capital punishment to be cruel and unusual punishment and therefore unconstitutional. Three years later, it reversed its decision and declared capital punishment to be constitutional after all.

One thing we cannot do is blame the judges for betraying the unborn. None of them ever said that they were pro-life or that they would vote to strike down Roe vs. Wade. They were appointed because they were known to represent a “conservative” judicial philosophy, not because of their abortion views.

The blame must be laid at the feet of the Republican Presidents.

For twelve years they refused to make abortion the litmus test for the appointment of Supreme Court judges.

They steadfastly refused to appoint to the Supreme Court only those judges who were committed to overturning Roe.

Don’t think it couldn’t be done. President Bill Clinton has already said he will make abortion a litmus test for his judicial appointments. The only judges he will appoint to the Court will be those who are committed to upholding Roe. Vs. Wade. Clinton is doing so because he is committed to abortion on demand.

Clinton is very bad news for the unborn.

Pro-life forces in the United States will be most anxious to see him replaced in 1996. As a Canadian observer, I hope that in the future, pro-life groups refuse to support any Presidential candidate who is not committed to making abortion a litmus test for Supreme Court appointment.