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Dear
Jerry,
"The Aborted States of
America - The Price of Choice"
On January 22, 1973, the Supreme
Court of the United States struck down all
existing state laws protecting the lives of unborn
children. Roe
v. Wade legalized abortion for any reason during
the first three months of pregnancy and for the final
six months if the mother's "health" was
threatened. Then in Doe v. Bolton,
decided concurrently with Roe, the court defined
"health" to be anything an abortionist wanted it to
be. As a result of these two decisions, unborn
children in the United States can be legally aborted for
the full nine months of
pregnancy. The Center
for Disease Control reports that since 1973, close to 50
million unborn children have been surgically aborted in
the United States. On this 35th anniversary of
abortion on demand, it is well that we examine the price
of "choice."
To visualize the loss of fifty
million people in our country, consider that that number
represents the cumulative populations of Arkansas,
Colorado,
Idaho,
Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana,
Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska,
New
Mexico, North
Dakota, Oregan, Oklahoma,
South
Dakota, Utah,
and Wyoming.
These are "The Aborted States of America." This is
the price of choice. This is the legacy of Roe
v. Wade.
While the moral implications far
outweigh the economic impact of Roe, economics is a
relevant question. Fifty million fewer parents have
shopped for bottles, diapers, toys, booties, or
schoolbooks. There are now fewer teachers, union
members, and nurses who would have been needed to teach
those fifty million aborted children, to manufacture
goods for them, or to keep them healthy. Fifty million
fewer workers are not earning, spending, saving,
investing, paying taxes, buying houses or cars.
If abortion had not been legalized
in 1973, approximately 20 million more people could now
be employed. An average income of $20,000 per year
totals over $400 billion annually. Each year, they
could be contributing over $8 billion to Medicare, and
$24 billion to Social Security. Abortion has left
fewer young people to care for the Baby Boom generation
as it prepares for retirement. Some economic
forecasters predict that unless we raise taxes, cut
benefits, or overhaul both systems, Medicare will be
bankrupt in the 2020s and Social Security in the 2030s.
The price of choice will affect every
American.
Abortion has disproportionately
impacted the Black community. While Black women
represent only 12% of the female population of the
country,
they obtain 35% of all U.S. abortions.
According to the Center for Disease Control, more
African American babies have been aborted during the
past 35 years than the total number of African
American deaths from all other causes combined. Blacks
are the only declining population in our country.
Post-abortive women also pay a
price. They suffer physically and emotionally with
higher rates of sterility, miscarriage, depression,
substance abuse, and suicide. Their risk of breast
cancer increases as confirmed in 28 out of 37 studies
worldwide. According to the Guttmacher Institute,
over half of post-abortive women claim that they were
coerced into obtaining an abortion.
Americans increasingly agree that
the price of choice is too great. Recent polls by
Time
Magazine, Fox
News, Harris, The Pew Research Center, and others
show a clear pro-life margin on the issue of abortion,
reflecting a shift in public opinion for the first time
in 35 years. More and more Americans
disagree with Roe’s abortion on demand for the full nine
months of pregnancy.
Roe represents a desertion of our
country’s founding principles, a tremendous price to
pay. That America has the most permissive
abortion regime among the world's democracies is a
denial of the American promise of justice for all.
We have been betrayed by a Supreme Court decision which
ignores the moral truths upon which our founding fathers
relied "that all men are created equal, that they
are endowed by their Creator with certain
unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty
and the Pursuit of happiness." America, it
is time to respect and protect the Right to Life and
restore the greatness to which we aspire.
Pam
Fichter
President
Missouri Right to Life
319
Gascony Way
St.
Louis, Missouri
314-966-3889
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