I wrote, “I’m not sure that the anti-abortion movement — the pro-life movement, whatever you want to call it — has ever had a more important figure.” Ramesh answered with something unequivocal: Nathanson “was important, but not the most important American pro-lifer.” He went on to say that Henry Hyde and Ronald Reagan, for two, were more important.

If you could take a poll to determine who has changed the most minds about abortion — I wonder who would win. I have a feeling Nathanson would place higher than either Hyde or Reagan. Perhaps even come out on top. Mother Teresa?

Anyway, who cares? This is just idle talk, some musing. Everyone has his place. Let me do some quoting, from December 2006. Some of us were asked to recommend books (as per tradition). This is what I wrote:

I’ve read several good books, but I will single out the book of my colleague, Ramesh Ponnuru. It is The Party of Death: The Democrats, the Media, the Courts, and the Disregard for Human Life. The book is about abortion, mainly, and there is no more important topic — even during wartime. What is the fetus? Is it a “meaningless blob of protoplasm,” or is it an unborn child, a living human being? If the latter, abortion is screamingly important — far different from an appendectomy.
Ponnuru’s book is diamond-clear and diamond-hard, without a drop of mush in it. I believe it’s irrefutable. Certainly I have seen no refutation, and would not bank on it. Furthermore, The Party of Death is, believe it or not, a cracking good read — mordantly funny, often.
I would say this: Be pro-choice if you want to. (Ponnuru isn’t.) But, in any case, don’t be ignorant. This book is very much an ignorance-defeater.