As you may know if you read this blog regularly, we often give some of the folks over at the Des Moines Register a hard time when we think they are showing a left-leaning bias. But we also like to give credit where credit is due.

There was an excellent piece written recently by Register columnist John Carlson. He first describe the scene at the statehouse a few weeks ago when pro-life activists gathered in the capitol for the Prayer for Life Rally.

He recounted how some protestors caused a scene, shouting and “shrieking” so much that many of those gathered for the rally itself could not hear the remarks of conservative-favorite, U.S. Rep. Steve King.

Carlson pointed out the irony that these protestors got exactly what they wanted. Their faces and interviews showed up on the local news that night, but not a word of King’s speech was re-broadcast. So, Carlson re-printed King’s statements in his column for the world to see.

"I speak frequently with students from middle school through high school. I tell them that someday they're going to be asked, and will have to answer, an important question: Are you for or against abortion of the innocent unborn? They will need to be grounded philosophically to be able to answer. It comes down to knowing the right answer to two questions:

"Number One: Do you believe in the sanctity of human life?

"Look at the person next to you. Do you believe in their sanctity of life? If you're 36 years old or younger, look at the people standing next to you. There between you is the ghost of a missing one-third of your generation because of abortion.

"If you ask that question across America, almost 100 percent support the idea that life is sacred.

"Number Two: At what instant does life begin?

"It begins at the instant of conception, or we need to say now at fertilization.

"If you can answer those two questions right then, you stand on solid moral ground. One day we're going to protect the sanctity of human life and we're going to protect it at the instant of conception ...

"Right now there is a piece of legislation called the Freedom of Choice Act, or FOCA. It has been drafted for some time now and it's pushed by Planned Parenthood. It's the piece of legislation that President Obama promised to sign into law first thing when he was campaigning for the presidency.

"If passed, FOCA would federally free up every regulation on abortion in every state in our nation. It would violate the 10th Amendment; would violate several other amendments, and some of our other constitutional guarantees.

"If it was challenged, it would go through the courts, and we haven't done very well for life in the courts. So let your congressmen know what you think of FOCA and ask them to oppose it with every fiber of their legislative being.

"People say you cannot legislate morality, but it happens all the time. Iowa's Code and the Federal Code are replete with expressions of morality.

"The morality that is there does reflect the moral values of those who make the decisions. Laws against murder and rape for instance. It sets standards. It says 'we're not going past this line.' Human life is sacred in all its forms and we need to protect it from conception to natural death."

And then, Carlson put the icing on the cake. He actually pointed out the great liberal hypocrisy: liberals are really only for freedom of speech if the speech is something they agree with.

Carlson never said whether or not he agreed with King. But he had the courage to be fair, reasonable, and rational, which is more than a lot of journalists can say these days.

Kudos to Carlson for a job well done.