lark Forsythe is president of Americans United for Life.

Lopez: How surprised were you by today's Stenberg v. Carhart ruling?

Forsythe: Well, I expected that the statute would be struck down, but I expected that it would be struck down on more narrow grounds. This is the most extreme abortion decision the Supreme Court has ever issued.

Lopez: How so?

Forsythe: It endorses partial-birth abortion nationwide, at any stage of pregnancy. It reaffirms more strongly abortion on demand, nation-wide, at every stage of pregnancy. And there is no realistic potential for the states to draft laws against partial-birth abortion. They would only be able to do so if they limited the ban to after viability, and included a health exception.

Lopez: What is next for the pro-life movement, in terms of strategy?

Forsythe: Well, partial-birth abortion is frankly off the public-policy map. But this defeat doesn't affect other public-policy limits on abortion; we still have to educate the public about the negative impact of abortion on women, and about the scientific link between abortion and breast cancer. This statute — as the congressional statute did, as other state statutes did — applied to a very specific procedure. That debate, nationwide, has moved public opinion, generally, on abortion toward a more pro-life stance. But this is a tragic excess by the Supreme Court. It is truly the most extreme abortion decision ever.

Lopez: What legal strategies remain?

Forsythe: Obviously, there is important legislation — parental notification and consent, women's right-to-know legislation which has already been approved by the court and is in effect in a number of states and has a very positive impact in reducing abortion and pregnancy rates. There is litigation ongoing in Arizona right now to support the clinic regulations in Arizona, where an abortionist killed a woman on an operating table. So, there are a lot of other legal and policy options, but prohibiting this procedure is simply not possible now. This procedure will flourish. The court effectively, without telling the American people, creates a new right to infanticide, because under this ruling, the abortionist — and Kennedy uses the term abortionist many times — can pull the child entirely out of the birth canal, save for a foot, and kill the child, all in the name of abortion.

Lopez: Were you surprised that Justice Kennedy voted in the way he did?

Forsythe: I was surprised that his dissent was as strong as it was. I was hoping he would dissent. It was good to see four strong dissents in this case — Rehnquist, Scalia, Thomas, and Kennedy each wrote a dissent. And they are very strong dissents. I was very surprised to see the strength of Kennedy's dissent. But, of course, the five rule, and the Court has dictated that partial-birth abortion is allowed for any reason at any time in a pregnancy.