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US March for Life founder Nellie Grey

January 19, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) —This slightly revised version of my August 22, 2012 blog post is even more important today. That is because of the inexplicably aggressive opposition to the Heartbeat Bill by some of the leading US pro-life organizations and pro-life political leaders. This would have greatly distressed Nellie Gray.

What is worse is that this opposition is occurring during the extraordinary window of opportunity of having (for now) the most pro-life President ever, who would very likely support and strongly talk up the bill – if only the pro-life leaders would get their act together about what they claim about wanting to stop ALL abortions.

I can't imagine what President Trump is thinking when he sees a powerful bill – with strong congressional support and which would prevent most abortions – being actively opposed by some pro-life leaders who instead promote a bill that will only ban the killing of a comparatively tiny number of abortion victims who are born alive (although that is also a worthy bill to support).

Political pragmatism betrays that one does not believe in the power of truth and grace and that one foolishly believes they can actually predict for certain, like a crystal ball, what will and won't work politically and legally. It is a siren song that appeals above all to human pride.

I have come to despise political pragmatism when it comes to life and death issues. It has caused much unnecessary heartbreak over the years, has been the bane of the pro-life movement and is, in my view, a form of denial of Christ.

It sends the message that  Our Lords's all-powerful truth, his grace and relying on Him above all else, are just not good enough. I cannot see that we can ever win with that attitude of the superiority of political “experts'” earthly strategies versus trust in God.
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WASHINGTON, D.C., August 22, 2012 (LifeSiteNews) — The death of Nellie Gray on August 13, 2012 has led to more reporting of the March for Life Fund’s “no exceptions, no compromises” Life Principles which Gray strongly promoted all during her years of leadership with the march that began in 1974. In the video of a September 14, 1994 EWTN television program in which Gray was interviewed by Mother Angelica, Gray was given an opportunity to fully explain her position (from start to 12:00 minutes) which in her view was the only one that a true pro-life leader could hold.

Nellie Gray, a World War II veteran and former attorney with the Departments of State and Labor for 28 years, was a constant, but usually respectful critic of pro-life incremental strategies that allowed for exceptions for the life of the mother, rape, incest and other conditions that compromised the fundamental principle that every innocent human life must be protected. Gray explained that the first unacceptable compromise of allowing abortion for the life of the mother, naturally led to the cascade of other exceptions which made it difficult to convince abortionists of the wrongness of abortion and also divided the pro-life movement.

She stated on the program:

“When we found legislation making exceptions first for the life of the mother, rather than putting in there equal care for both the mother and the pre-born child, they (pro-life leaders and others) were actually saying that someone had the authority to kill an innocent child. Then you know what happened, once they made that one exception for the life of the mother, abortionists came along and put an exception for rape and incest and deformed children. And once those principles were violated, then unfortunately it was extremely difficult to make the abortionists understand that killing an innocent human being is not within the scope of either the moral or the secular law, and it is because of that,… those exceptions divided the various organizations.”

Gray told Mother Angelica that the “half a loaf” or now often known as the “something is better than nothing” strategy, “not only doesn’t work, it doesn’t work in either morality or law or strategy.” She went on explain to Mother Angelica,

What we have seen is that there was an effort to compromise on this basic subject of life for which there is no compromise. You’re either for or against it. There is no neutrality and there is no in between. You can’t have a little bit of abortion. You can’t be a little bit pregnant. You must understand that life must be protected in total. And once those principles were broken, more and more education was done that it is alright to kill some babies and unfortunately that came from those who were trying to defend life. And when that wrong message got through then unfortunately we’ve had 22 years of going downhill. 

A student of the Nuremberg Trials that tried and sentenced to death Nazi leaders for their “crimes against humanity” during the war, Gray told Mother Angelica that the mass killing of the preborn in America “fits right into the principles of the Nuremberg Trials.” She emphasized the serious individual responsibility of everyone to not be complicit in the killing as were many Germans who claimed all kinds of unacceptable excuses for their actions or inactions related to the killings that took place in the death camps and other atrocities committed by the Nazis during the war.

The Nuremberg Trial “crimes against humanity” also included abortion as mentioned in a report:

The Tribunal had stated: “The acts and conduct, as set forth in this Judgment, and as substantially charged in the indictment [“encouraging and compelling abortions”] constitute crimes against humanity… and… war crimes.”

“If we applied the same principles (Nuremberg Principles) to ourselves”, emphasized Nellie Gray, “we would stop abortion overnight.” Gray remembered how the United States stood in judgment of the Nazis in Germany, but that, “Somehow, we have forgotten the Nuremberg Trials.”

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Steve is the co-founder and managing director of LifeSiteNews.com.