Reading some earlier letters, I see there is some dispute over what Gallup (or Gallup respondents) mean by "pro-life" or "pro-choice."

If you go to the Gallup site and read the details, you will see support for my 60-37 figure. 60% of Americans believe abortion should either be completely banned or allowed only in a "few" circumstances. 37% believe it should be completely legal, or allowed in "most" circumstances.

Needless to say, these are jaw dropping numbers, and they've moved significantly in just the last year. The only two explanations I could give for it would be (1) the 1-2 punch of the Pope and bishops referenced in my last message or (2) the prominent example of Sarah Palin. Gallup reports that the biggest movement came from erstwhile pro-choice or uncertain Republicans, which could mean Palin is the primary cause for it. (I doubt she changed many hard core liberal minds).

It's interesting, really. You never know what's going to move people. John Brown tried to spark emancipation at Harper's Ferry, and failed. Harriet Beecher Stowe was, as Lincoln said, a little woman who wrote a book and started a great big war. Same thing in the first century. Who would have guessed that Herod the Great's lowly critics would write his most famous biographical entry, concerning the slaughter of tiny children? Where I live, Bishop D'Arcy's opposition to Obama was taken very seriously, at length in print and on television, and was covered 100x more than the likes of Randall Terry. Palin recently appeared with her son Trigg at a pro-life event in Evansville, and was very well received.

I don't know whether abortion will ever be restricted, but I do think the sun was shining over America this week. If you're a little kid in the womb, and you're about to get your throat cut, or incinerated through a saline abortion, your chances of survival just got a little better. For that, all people of conscience can be thankful.

I understand how Terry and his followers assume all is required is take the moral high ground and that is the end of any debate. I want to know how "pre-birth murder" will be handled by law enforcement? Will the DA charge woman who have miscarriages too often for murder? How does the government keep track of all fertile females to make sure none commit murder? What will the prison sentences be for pre-birth murder? I ask the antiabortion movement to present their vision of this utopia they desire.

Issues like abortion are a distraction from the drama that is unfolding in Central Asia: Afghanistan and Pakistan or Af-Pak as it's now called.

Right to Life advocates ought turn their attention to the stage on which real bloodshed is occurring: the final stage of our American Empire as it exhausts itself, its armed forces bedeviled by suicides and murders, both against the Lord's commandments.

Our President, too weak to change anything, is chanting his mantra about coming together, avoiding the extremes, avoiding the need for abortion. Meanwhile, he is committing an abortion in Af-Pak, taking the lives of our heroic but over-tired and over-stressed reservists and national guard. He is also inflicting misery on countless thousands of Pakistanis. He is increasing our presence in Afghanistan, a presence that only inflames the tribal leaders.

Time to realize that we have elected a gutless fool with a charming manner. He is not a fighter for anything, not for a woman's right to choose, not for the saving of souls, not for the saving of this country's solvency or its reputation abroad.

First, there must be a repeal of Roe v. Wade. Keep an eye on Justice Kennedy. He was one of three judges who cited public support for Roe (via opinion surveys) in Casey v. Planned Parenthood. Later, it was reported that he was unhappy with some portions of that decision, and he joined in a 5-4 decision upholding a federal partial birth abortion ban.

I would expect Justice Scalia to hand him a copy of the Gallup poll results and ask seriously if they change his opinion. If they would, you could see a 5-4 majority (Justices Scalia, Thomas, Roberts, Alito, and Kennedy) going the other way. That's optimistic, on my part, but it could happen.

Next, you move to the states. Where I live, third trimester abortions are illegal. How is this enforced? I don't have any idea. It doesn't seem to be controversial. I have never heard of a "back alley" third trimester abortion, in terms of injury to a woman. The Catholic Church estimates there are about 100,000 viable fetuses who are protected each year by abortions that would otherwise occur but-for third trimester bans. I'm grateful they exist!

I assume, in a state like mine, which is fairly conservative, you would probably find support to move the ban back to perhaps the first trimester -- beyond that, the fetus has a beating heart and even greater life attributes, even if not yet viable. How would it be enforced? I don't know. Same way the law described above is enforced -- hopefully, without much controversy. Or, you could see a rape and incest only exception, along with "by-pass" methods used in the past -- e.g., if a woman faces economic hardship and avers that she tried in good faith to avoid the pregnancy, an exception could obtain. That's uncomfortable to contemplate, but so is being a fetus faced with having your skin set on fire through a saline abortion.

What of the criminal penalties? Again, what are the penalties today for partial birth abortions, or late term abortions? I've never heard of jails overflowing with such people. If you move back the line, and try to reduce the hundreds of thousands of abortions now performed, most people would probably just get serious about birth control and stop using abortion as a backstop in the first place. In other words, fewer conceptions, fewer abortions.

But wait, don't pro-lifers have to take an absolute position, and insist on jailing 13-year old rape victim/abortion obtainers for murder, or see their position collapse? Um, no. The law is filled with scales and slopes, rules and exceptions. Same thing here. People like me just want to see the number come down significantly. How you get there is less important, as long as it's sensible.