NASHVILLE, Tenn.,—Dr. Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission commented on today’s Supreme Court decision to uphold the constitutionality of the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act.
“This is a great day for justice,” said Land. “This is a great day for the unborn. And this is a great day for America.
“The 5-4 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court upholding the ban on the barbarous and grotesque procedure known as partial birth abortion means the procedure is now mercifully against the law in the United States of America. The procedure involves a partially born baby, most often viable or full-term, being delivered except for its head and then being killed through the insertion of a surgical instrument into the partially born infant’s brain.
“This decision is a powerful and timely reminder of the enormous significance of presidential elections and their pivotal impact on the makeup of the Supreme Court.
“If Al Gore or John Kerry, rather than President George W. Bush, had made the nominations to replace the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist and retired Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, then this monstrous partial birth abortion procedure would have likely been upheld by the highest court as constitutional in the land in a 6-3 vote, rather than being struck down 5-4. It would have been a decade or more before there would have been an opportunity to change the balance of the court in favor of this monumental step for justice for our partially born and unborn citizens.
“Thank God for President Bush, and thank God for Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito.”
p(notes). The Southern Baptist Convention is America’s largest non-Catholic denomination with more than 16.2 million members in over 43,500 churches nationwide. The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission is the SBC’s ethics, religious liberty and public policy agency with offices in Nashville, Tenn., and Washington, D.C.
