My bleg had been up for no more than twenty minutes before I had half a dozen emails, telling me exactly where to find that 1992 open letter to the Democratic Party. The document, which was indeed signed by Sargent Shriver, as also by his wife, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, proved even more powerful than I’d remembered. An excerpt:
The rhetoric of abortion advocacy contains a truth that abortion advocates often fail to perceive. Abortion is a question of choice. The “choice,” though, is not one faced by isolated women exercising private rights. It is a choice faced by all the citizens of this free society. And the choice we make, deliberatively and democratically, will do much to answer two questions: What kind of a people are we? What kind of a people will we be?
If we abandon the principle of respect for human life by making the value of a life depend on whether someone else thinks that life is worthy or wanted, we will become one sort of people.
But there is a better way.
We can choose to reaffirm our respect for human life. We can choose to extend once again the mantle of protection to all members of the human family, including the unborn. We can choose to provide effective care of mothers and children.
And if we make those choices, America will experience a new birth of freedom, bringing with it a renewed spirit of community, compassion, and caring.
To read the entire letter, click here.