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National Catholic Reporter's Joe Fuererherd (Rick Reinhard/CNS)

For the second time in less that a week, I’ve stumbled across an opinion piece arguing that the Freedom of Choice Act, which would do away with a lot of pro-life legislation, doesn’t stand a chance.

“Here’s the reality: FOCA has as much chance of passage as the 0-10 Detroit Lions have of winning the next Super Bowl,” writes Joe Feuerherd, editor in chief of the National Catholic Reporter.

In the piece, titled “How a bill doesn’t become a law,” he writes that the legislation is just too controversial. The Senate won’t be able to muster the 60 votes to filibuster-proof the law (there’s just too many pro-life or at least pro-life sympathetic senators).

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Fuererherd argues further that, with President-elect Barack Obama at the helm, the bill is actually less likely to pass. Abortion rights activists don’t see him as a threat to Roe v. Wade, so they don’t see the need for FOCA, he argues. (Not sure about this one, I must admit. If Sen. John McCain was president, the abortion rights activists would still have the filibuster problem and a president who’d veto the bill. But I do see where he’s going.)

“There are genuine abortion-related issues worthy of debate right now — proposals to lift the ban on federally sponsored embryonic stem-cell research and restrictions on U.S. assistance to nongovernmental organizations that provide abortion counseling, to name just two,” Fuererherd writes. “FOCA, however, is not among them. In fact, it’s not even close.”

If he’s right, it’s certainly something to be thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving.