California Family Minute
January 12, 2011
The Only Difference between Preborn and Born is “Geography”
by Rebecca Burgoyne,
CFC Research Analyst
Millennials – young adults born between the late 1970s and the 1990s – are overwhelmingly pro-life. A Knights of Columbus/Marist poll last year found 58 percent of them believed abortion to be morally wrong. With only a small percentage over the age of 30, millennials have never known a time when abortion was illegal, yet through the technology of ultrasounds their celebrations of babies in the womb – not blobs of tissue – are heightened. With one in five pregnancies now ending in abortion, younger adults are better informed of the vacancies left in their lives – brothers, sisters, cousins, and classmates absent by abortion. As one 23-year-old told LifeNews.com recently, “When friends on Facebook post the ultrasound pictures of their little babies in the womb, it could not be clearer that the only difference between an unborn child and a born child is geography.”
As Roe v. Wade turns 38 on January 22, an estimated 53 million legal abortions have occurred since they became legal in 1973, and a recent report by the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute shows the number of abortions is inching up. Having peaked in 1990, abortion numbers declined until 2005, and the most recent report of 2008 shows a very slight uptick – perhaps attributable to the recession.
One particularly black mark in the report shows that medication abortions, in which women are given drugs to end their pregnancy, accounted for about 17 percent of all abortions. Planned Parenthood has promoted these non-surgical abortions as safer, and women seem to be turning to them over surgical methods. However, these medication abortions have claimed the lives of upwards of a dozen women and injured at least 1,100 women in the United States.
While the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe cemented a woman’s right to an abortion, many states have legislatively limited that right by requiring parental notification for minors, counseling and waiting periods, and limiting public funding. With the recent surge of Republican control in state governments nationwide, pro-life legislation is expected to increase.
In California, however, where 17.7 percent of abortions occur, there are no restrictions on abortion. Since the turn of the century, California’s Democrat-controlled Legislature has chiseled away any restrictions and made California the most pro-abortion state in the union. In fact, while the number of abortion providers has declined nationwide, the provider count in California rose from 422 to 522 from 2005 to 2008. Many pro-life people registered as Democrats are unaware of the Democratic platform being aggressively pro-abortion.
The tide has been turning in recent years, and most Americans side squarely on the pro-life side. A Rasmussen poll last summer found that 54 percent said abortion was morally wrong most of the time. Women agreed with that 58 percent of the time, and 48 percent of those polled said abortions were too easy to obtain. In May of this year, respected pollster Gallup referred to the pro-life position as “the new normal.”
The growth in pro-life pregnancy clinics (many with ultrasound equipment), regional Walk for Life events, consistent prayer activities, and adoption services has transformed perspectives regarding the preborn. Women who might otherwise suffer the trauma of abortion are being helped to consider the better physical, emotional and spiritual alternative of life-giving, and those who lament their choice to abort a child are being helped through grief counseling support services. However, recent statistics showing increases in abortion numbers suggest we must redouble our efforts.
The future is our hope for this issue – even in California. As Millennials embrace the right to life for those in the womb, they can lead us forward. It is estimated that half of the thousands who participate in the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. are under age 30.
To remember the anniversary of the Roe decision, the month of January has long been known as Pro-Life or Sanctity of Life Month. Churches and pro-life organizations stage events to remember and to educate others about the value of life that is cavalierly ignored by those who promote a woman’s right to choose over a child’s right to birth.
For more information:
The Only Difference between Preborn and Born is “Geography”
by Rebecca Burgoyne,
CFC Research Analyst
Millennials – young adults born between the late 1970s and the 1990s – are overwhelmingly pro-life. A Knights of Columbus/Marist poll last year found 58 percent of them believed abortion to be morally wrong. With only a small percentage over the age of 30, millennials have never known a time when abortion was illegal, yet through the technology of ultrasounds their celebrations of babies in the womb – not blobs of tissue – are heightened. With one in five pregnancies now ending in abortion, younger adults are better informed of the vacancies left in their lives – brothers, sisters, cousins, and classmates absent by abortion. As one 23-year-old told LifeNews.com recently, “When friends on Facebook post the ultrasound pictures of their little babies in the womb, it could not be clearer that the only difference between an unborn child and a born child is geography.”
As Roe v. Wade turns 38 on January 22, an estimated 53 million legal abortions have occurred since they became legal in 1973, and a recent report by the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute shows the number of abortions is inching up. Having peaked in 1990, abortion numbers declined until 2005, and the most recent report of 2008 shows a very slight uptick – perhaps attributable to the recession.
One particularly black mark in the report shows that medication abortions, in which women are given drugs to end their pregnancy, accounted for about 17 percent of all abortions. Planned Parenthood has promoted these non-surgical abortions as safer, and women seem to be turning to them over surgical methods. However, these medication abortions have claimed the lives of upwards of a dozen women and injured at least 1,100 women in the United States.
While the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe cemented a woman’s right to an abortion, many states have legislatively limited that right by requiring parental notification for minors, counseling and waiting periods, and limiting public funding. With the recent surge of Republican control in state governments nationwide, pro-life legislation is expected to increase.
In California, however, where 17.7 percent of abortions occur, there are no restrictions on abortion. Since the turn of the century, California’s Democrat-controlled Legislature has chiseled away any restrictions and made California the most pro-abortion state in the union. In fact, while the number of abortion providers has declined nationwide, the provider count in California rose from 422 to 522 from 2005 to 2008. Many pro-life people registered as Democrats are unaware of the Democratic platform being aggressively pro-abortion.
The tide has been turning in recent years, and most Americans side squarely on the pro-life side. A Rasmussen poll last summer found that 54 percent said abortion was morally wrong most of the time. Women agreed with that 58 percent of the time, and 48 percent of those polled said abortions were too easy to obtain. In May of this year, respected pollster Gallup referred to the pro-life position as “the new normal.”
The growth in pro-life pregnancy clinics (many with ultrasound equipment), regional Walk for Life events, consistent prayer activities, and adoption services has transformed perspectives regarding the preborn. Women who might otherwise suffer the trauma of abortion are being helped to consider the better physical, emotional and spiritual alternative of life-giving, and those who lament their choice to abort a child are being helped through grief counseling support services. However, recent statistics showing increases in abortion numbers suggest we must redouble our efforts.
The future is our hope for this issue – even in California. As Millennials embrace the right to life for those in the womb, they can lead us forward. It is estimated that half of the thousands who participate in the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. are under age 30.
To remember the anniversary of the Roe decision, the month of January has long been known as Pro-Life or Sanctity of Life Month. Churches and pro-life organizations stage events to remember and to educate others about the value of life that is cavalierly ignored by those who promote a woman’s right to choose over a child’s right to birth.
For more information:
- Be a Voice for Life, an outreach of Focus on the Family
- ProLifeCon, Family Research Council, Webcast, January 24, 2011
- Sanctity of Human Life Sunday (SOHLS) January 23, 2011
- Walk for Life West Coast, San Francisco, January 22, 2011
- California Prolife Lobby Day Conference, January 26, 2011
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