House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence wrote a piece today for The Washington Times, "Fighting for Life in 2010":

Life is winning across America but continues to lose in Washington, DC. The best efforts of pro-abortion advocates to spread abortion on demand have only emboldened more Americans to embrace the sanctity of human life.  For proof, look no further than that the number of abortions performed in a single year hit an all-time low in 2008.  

The best political action we can take is no match for the power of personal persuasion.  In pregnancy care centers, churches and family rooms across the country, the truth about abortion is being told and people are listening like never before.  Women who experienced firsthand the trauma of abortion are standing up to proclaim that every woman deserves better. Compassion is overcoming convenience and life is defeating despair. 

It may be one life at a time but this is the reason life is winning across America.  Still, 50 million innocent human lives have been lost since Roe v. Wade became law.  And the events of the past year prove that this is the most pro-abortion president to ever occupy the White House.

After just three days in office, President Obama allowed federal tax dollars to flow to organizations that promote and provide abortions abroad.  The longstanding “Mexico City Policy” ensured that America provided international aid in a way that is both fiscally responsible and consistent with the values of pro-life taxpayers.  President Obama repealed this common sense policy and disregarded the moral values of millions of Americans.

Less than two months later the president continued his executive disregard for the right to life.  In March, the president moved to strip conscience protections for health care providers who refuse to perform abortions because of their deeply held moral beliefs.  Days later, he authorized the use of taxpayer dollars to fund unethical embryo-destructive research, which has failed to provide a single treatment for a single patient.  Meanwhile, the voices of patients successfully treated with ethical adult stem cells are largely ignored by the president.

And today, Democrat leaders are meeting behind closed doors to draft their latest plan for a government takeover of health care that could allow federal funding of abortion under a government-run health care scheme.

It is morally wrong to use the tax dollars of pro-life Americans to promote the destruction of human life, whether abroad or at home.  Those who stand in defense of life have our work cut out for us but history may have shown us the way.

William Wilberforce, a central figure in the fight to end the slave trade in Great Britain, understood that to win a moral victory he needed to persuade the hearts and minds of the people, as well as end public policies that supported the objectionable trade.  Wilberforce defeated the slave trade by bringing an end to the financial gains it enjoyed.

If we are going to end abortion we must bring an end to abortion profiteering.  And we cannot end abortion in this country so long as the American taxpayer is forced to be the largest financial supporter of abortion.

Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in America, performed more than 305,000 abortions in 2007.  That same year, Planned Parenthood received hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars, either through federal, state or local assistance.  This is unacceptable.  Now is the time to deny federal funding to Planned Parenthood.

To that end, I will continue to introduce legislation in Congress that will restrict any federal family planning funds from going to organizations like Planned Parenthood that promote or perform abortions.  I will seize every opportunity to bring this proposal before Congress until the people’s House respects the will of the American people and ends taxpayer subsidized abortion.

William Wilberforce committed his life to a cause that would “extinguish every trace of this bloody traffic” in human life and said that “posterity, looking back to the history of these enlightened times will scarce believe that it has been suffered to exist so long a disgrace and dishonor to this country.” 

When posterity looks back to our time, let them discover a generation that did everything in its power to protect the right to life of the unborn and preserved for future generations a more just society.  Let us summon the courage and perseverance to ensure life wins in the law and in the hearts of the American people.