Hopeful Developments for the Right to Life and the Right to Free Speech

(Originally Published on GrasstopsUSA.com)

A great victory for advocates of genuine individual rights has been won on April 18, 2007, as the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act. But even more grounds for hope exist, since this is not merely a one-time success. It is a manifestation of a gradual but definite shift of momentum to the pro-life movement over the recent years. Other longer-term trends point in the same direction as well, and on the day of the Supreme Court's decision, I had the pleasure of learning about these developments from Dr. Mike Adams.

Dr. Adams-a criminology professor at the University of North Carolina, conservative columnist, and renowned activist for the pro-life cause-delivered an eloquent, witty, and informative speech at Hillsdale College on April 18, 2007. He highlighted three trends that, over the recent years, have made it easier for pro-life groups and advocates of genuine free speech on college campuses to obtain quality information, express their ideas effectively, and challenge violations of the rights of unborn humans and conservative thinkers in colleges nationwide.

The first trend Dr. Adams discussed is the burgeoning alternative media. Over the past ten years, an explosive growth has occurred in conservative and pro-life information sources: including websites, blogs, regular online publications, and television news channels such as FOX News and MSNBC that offer more equitable coverage on the abortion issue than do the traditional "big three networks." The new media not only helps inform pro-lifers and co-ordinate their activities, but also exposes the public to frequent instances of fanaticism, illegality, and criminality in the "pro-choice" movement. For instance, the alternative media helped fire Professor Sally Jacobsen at the University of Kentucky, who incited her students to destroy a pro-life monument on her campus and personally participated in its egregious dismantlement.