COLUMNIST CAL TOMAS SPEAKS TO ANTI-ABORTION SUPPORTERS

Calling abortion "the great moral issue of our time," conservative political commentator Cal Thomas urged a Cape Girardeau audience Tuesday to be active in the right-to-life movement.

The anti-abortion point of view, he said, is often slighted by major national media outlets, which he accused of favoring the abortion position.

"In the 25 years since Roe vs. Wade, 30 million babies have died and no New York Times editorial has weeped for them or what they might have become," Thomas said.

The outspoken proponent of the anti-abortion cause and Christian values received a warm reception from an audience of more than 500 people during a benefit appearance at the Holiday Inn in Cape Girardeau.

Thomas' twice-a-week columns appear in more than 400 newspapers nationally, including the Southeast Missourian. He also is host of a cable television talk show on CNBC and has written nine books.

Thomas decried what he called successful efforts by the media to elevate the legal right of a woman to end pregnancy to a "sacrament," an effort he said cheapens life, adding that the "self-evident truth" that abortion is immoral supersedes the law.

Thomas said major media fail to recognize personal sin and instead blame dysfunction caused by outside forces. The stress is on reform through government programs, not redemption in the eyes of God.

"We need to be redeemed, not reformed, and from the inside, not the outside," Thomas said.

Getting information about alternatives to women considering abortions -- efforts Thomas derisively said feminist groups complain are an "insult to women" -- are vital, according to Thomas.

He added that during speaking engagements, women who regret having had abortions often approach him and invariably tell him "If only I had more information, ... I would not have had the abortion."

Thomas said by getting the right-to-life message out with the same level of media exposure as abortion groups such as Planned Parenthood, more women might reconsider ending unplanned pregnancies and public awareness can be raised.

The Vitae Society, which runs a right-to-life television ad campaign throughout the nation, sponsored Thomas' appearance.