Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, August 14, 1994                   TAG: 9408130021
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Cody Lowe
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

CAN WE WORK TOGETHER TO AVOID AN ABORTION WAR?

Some contend that battles have been raging for more than 20 years, but that we - the media - just weren't reporting the aborted casualties.

The merits of that argument aside, the deaths of an abortion doctor and his bodyguard two weeks ago and the reported threat of retaliation against Roman Catholic priests last week shoved all of us nearer to cultural catastrophe.

When any feud reaches this level, the danger is that no amount of retribution for real or imagined iniquities will ever be enough to right those wrongs in the eyes of the other clan.

That kind of lawlessness threatens annihilation of the activist armies and widespread destruction among bystanders sympathetic to one side or no side.

The cycle can go on and on, spinning out of control until one side is killed off or both sides are bled dry or the larger community steps in and protects itself by negotiating - or forcing - a truce.

That atmosphere of violence is a significant obstacle to peace between the factions, but perhaps the greater threat comes from despair.

Once a solution to any problem starts to seem unattainable, that is when the danger of never finding one is greatest. That's when we give up. Or that's when we give in to the easy or apparent course of action, whether or not it is wise or prudent or right. That's when otherwise rational people may come to believe that irrational violence provides an answer.

Yet in the face of peril, we have a critical opportunity to set history's course.

The pessimists among us will declare in newspaper columns and radio commentaries and TV talk shows that violence is inevitable, that escalation is inescapable, that reconciliation is impossible.

Extremists on both sides will continue to blame their opponents for stirring up the whirlpool of hatred, and they'll refuse to help paddle out of its deadly vortex. Politically, they'll say, the issue is too divisive, the positions too entrenched, the stakes too high to expect a peaceful resolution.

Optimists - especially those of us whose convictions lie somewhere in the middle of the abortion debate's extremes - feel something else.

Oh, we do share a growing mental and emotional fatigue with many others - including some of the most vocal, most committed activists on both sides - who struggle with the moral and ethical complexities of abortion.

But, despite our weariness, we optimists hope. We hope for recognition of the incentive for dialogue between the activists. We pray for restraint among those who feel compelled to declare their positions and to persuade others to join them.

Given the history of the debate, some will laugh at our optimism. ``Fools,'' they'll say, ``dreamers.'' And we will remember the slap of the hard news declaring the abortion doctor and his escort dead. We will remember the hollow feeling of despondency when we read of the threat to kill Roman Catholic priests whose collars make them easy, visible targets.

We must not give in to our fears, though, that debate will become debacle.

We'll proclaim our confidence that even if we're no closer to the end of the abortion argument, we may yet negotiate a pact to avoid a full-scale abortion war.