By Dave Andrusko

Pro-abortion Hillary Clinton
Molly Riley/AP Photo

As you would expect, the New York Times’ coverage of NRLC’s 2016 national convention fanned out from the Friday morning Political Action session, titled, “The Battle Before Us.” And to be both accurate and fair, Erik Eckholm’s coverage, as media accounts go, was accurate and fair.

Here are four areas where Eckholm caught the flavor and the direction of the convention, particularly Friday morning but also up to and including the Saturday night closing convention.

#1. “’Our people have had setbacks before, but they’re going to keep on fighting,’ Carol Tobias, the president of the group, the National Right to Life Committee, declared at the organization’s annual meeting that was held here Thursday through Saturday — a combination of pep talks, tactical training and sharing of legislative strategies.”

Nobody ignored the Supreme Court’s disastrous decision in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt. On a 5-3 vote, the justices overturned portions of Texas HB 2 they didn’t need to and should not have. But bad Supreme Court decisions are not exactly a novelty. Through that “combination of pep talks, tactical training and sharing of legislative strategies” the attendees learned where NRLC’s priorities are. Speaking of which….

#2. “States have passed more than 300 anti-abortion measures since 2011, from mandatory ultrasounds to rules for burial of fetal remains. While the Supreme Court ruling could change the terms, it is already clear that pitched battles over abortion will continue in many states in the year ahead. But amid a continued flurry of bills, National Right to Life and its affiliates will give the highest priority to two measures in particular, the leaders here said.”

Over the decades NRLC has been behind many protective statutes. The latest decision demonstrates beyond dispute that the justices’ thinking seems to be impervious to considerations of a woman’s health. NRLC’s strategy is different. “Our legislation focuses on the humanity of the unborn child,” said Mary Spaulding Balch, the director of state legislation for National Right to Life.

#3. Eckholm addresses the top NRLC priorities: The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act (passed by 14 states) and the Unborn Child Protection from Dismemberment Act (passed by six states). Both laws are based on model legislation provided by National Right to Life. The latter protects unborn children who are capable of experiencing great pain when being killed by dismemberment or other late abortion methods. An unborn child is capable of feeling pain by 20 weeks after fertilization and likely earlier.

The former bans a particularly gruesome abortion method in which a living unborn child in her mother’s womb is ripped apart into pieces by an abortionist using sharp metal tools. Proponents look to the dissent in Stenberg v. Carhart and the majority in Gonzales v. Carhart and conclude the law would pass constitutional muster.

Eckholm gives pro-abortionists their turn to tell readers that our laws are bogus science, not evidence-based, blah, blah, blah. And how eager they are to challenge those laws in court.

Ms. Balch points out, however, that pro-abortionists did not challenge that portion of HB 2 which banned abortions performed on pain-capable unborn children. “Ms. Balch said anti-abortion groups [that would be us] welcomed the chance to test the bans before the Supreme Court.”

#4. The November elections. Here is Eckholm’s conclusion. “As disappointed as they were by last month’s Supreme Court decision, anti-abortion groups are far more concerned about the November elections for the Senate and the presidency, and the effects on the future makeup of the court.

“While Donald J. Trump has in the past expressed support for abortion rights, the anti-abortion leaders here said they took at face value his statements that he had converted to their cause and would appoint conservatives to the Supreme Court.

“A victory by Hillary Clinton and the appointment of one or more justices who share her strong support for abortion rights ‘would be catastrophic,’ for the movement, said Anthony J. Lauinger, the chairman of Oklahomans for Life and a vice president of National Right to Life, creating “a very grim situation.

“But whatever happens, Mr. Lauinger said, ‘We view the glass as half full.’

“Mr. Lauinger, 72, who has been an anti-abortion activist since the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, said he felt encouraged in the face of periodic setbacks because ‘young people are picking up the battle.’”

You cannot–you simply cannot –exaggerate the significance of a victory by the former Secretary of State (interesting: I just wrote “Secretary of Abortion” before correcting myself). She believes not only in abortion on demand throughout pregnancy for any reason or no reason, Clinton is a True Believer in exporting the Abortion Plague to the four corners of the earth.

Editor’s note. If you want to peruse stories all day long, go directly to nationalrighttolifenews.org and/or follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/daveha