Senate Judiciary C'tee to become more anti-choice?

It appears the answer is yes, despite the fact that the incoming Chairman Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania is nominally pro-choice. The Washington Post's Charles Babington has the story entitled "Two Opponents of Abortion Are Tapped for Senate Judiciary Panel":

Senate Republican leaders yesterday appointed two of Congress's most outspoken antiabortion members to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is bracing for potentially bruising hearings on nominations to the Supreme Court.

Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) and Sen.-elect Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) will join the panel's eight returning Republicans next month, assuming the Republican Conference follows tradition and approves the leadership's committee assignments for all 55 GOP senators. The breakdown of Judiciary will be 10 Republicans and eight Democrats.

Though the Republicans will certainly have the upper hand in the Senate this term, the will of the American people is decidedly on the side of the Democrats when it comes to the issue of choice (check out these polls from Quinnipiac and AP/Ipsos showing 50 and 59 percent, respectively, supporting Roe v. Wade).

The Democrats can stop the Republicans on this issue, but it will take a concerted effort in tandem with a number of other groups (NOW, NARAL, et al) to make sure abortions are legal in this country in the coming years.