Pro-lifers see hope in Gorsuch

A pro-life spokesman says the seating of Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch is only one step toward obtaining a pro-life majority on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Gorsuch was sworn in as the country's 113th U.S. Supreme Court justice on Monday, giving hope to the pro-life community to eventually overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that legalized termination of preborn children.

Dean Nelson, national outreach director for Human Coalition, tells OneNewsNow that since his seating there's been a real battle to protect life in the womb.

“In reality there's still a legal battle,” says Nelson, “and having someone who would affirm the sacredness of human life and understands the Constitution on the bench is a huge win.”

Gorsuch has never ruled on an abortion case but did write a book expressing his view towards life and against doctor-assisted suicide. Now the count is 4-4 on the court again on conservative issues with Justice Anthony Kennedy the swing vote.

Nelson says, “I think that we should still continue as believers to pray that there would be another opening [so] that we would be able to appoint another justice who would also have the same type of commitment [as Gorsuch] to the Constitution and the protection of all lives, born and unborn.”

That possibility could surface as aging members of the nation's high court leave the bench.

Most observers expect the next battle to seat a justice will be just as contentious as the Gorsuch confirmation process, and perhaps even more intense.