Forty years ago the Supreme Court of the United States made a choice that has contributed to the deaths of more than 50 million babies. The 1973 Roe. v. Wade ruling, along with its companion case Doe v. Bolton, made abortion legal for any reason at any time during a woman’s pregnancy. January 22, 2013 marks the 40th anniversary of these decisions.
Though the Roe v. Wade decision made abortion legal, states continue to create legislation to protect preborn children. Last year, in fact, saw the second highest number of pro-life bills passed; a total of 43 pro-life laws went into effect in 19 states. total of 43 new pro-life laws went into effect in 19 states last year, making 2012 the year with the second highest number of pro-life legislation passed at the state level. The Guttmacher Institute has issued a 2012 State Law Policy Review" detailing pro-life legislation in the states. You can review it at http://www.guttmacher.org/statecenter/spibs/spib_OAL.pdf.
States have the authority to regulate abortion according to constitutional guidelines, and are doing so. They are also working to protect children in other ways. For example, a federal judge in Texas has allowed the state to defund planned parenthood in its state budget. http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/01/texas-judge-allows-state-to-defund-planned-parenthood.php.
Abortion harms both women and girls - in ways that few ever imagined. See the American Spectator piece on the gendercide of baby girls at http://spectator.org/archives/2013/01/15/roe-v-wade-four-decades-of-tra. Abortion undermines the rationale for child support, as discussed in a recent article at the First Things Blog, athttp://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2012/12/15/how-abortion-undermines-the-rationale-for-child-support/. You can read more on my work in this area at the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2109680. The Patient Affordable Health Care Act has been blocked in its application to a religious company being forced to provide abortion, sterilization and contraceptive coverage. See more on that at
CitizenLink article at http://www.citizenlink.com/2013/01/16/next-tuesday-marks-40th-anniversary-of-roe-v-wade-abortion-ruling/.
Some believe the Supreme Court's decision on abortion marked the pinnacle for women's rights. Others believe it marked the beginning of constitutional authority for state regulation of abortion to protect women. We've called this "The Rise and Fall of Women's Rights," and you can read that article at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2007200. Abortion is not the essence of women's rights; rather, it has harmed women, made us targets of poor health care, and trapped us into thinking we needed to be freed from our reproductive bondage. Reproductive capacities of women are instead a sacred blessing, a special opportunity to bring forth life.
Heartbeat International, an Ohio organization dedicated to helping Christian communities across the world rescue women and couples from abortion, created a website called Remembering Roe. The group wants people to pray and remember on January 22. Heartbeat International invites people to participate in a national day of prayer and fasting to “end the violence of abortion.” From 3 to 4 p.m. EST, people can pray with the National Pro-life Religious Council during a webcast. Learn more at http://www.heartbeatinternational.org/call-for-prayer. The day’s theme is Reflect. Repent. Restore.
Forty years of children... more than 50 million children... lost. We must work to restore laws that protect children, and protect their mothers as well. That effort goes a very long way in family restoration.
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