The following is an internet article I ran across that was published in January of this year.
54,559,615 Abortions Since Roe vs. Wade Decision in 1973
by Steven Ertelt | Washington, DC | LifeNews.com | 1/23/12 6:37 PM
A new estimate published by the National Right to Life Committee indicates there have been an estimated 54,559,615 abortions since the Supreme Court handed down its 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision allowing virtually unlimited abortions.
This means there are more than 3,300 abortions daily and 137 abortions per hour every hour in the United States. Translated another way, an abortion is done about every 30 seconds in the United States. The analysis also found that the best estimate for the current number of annual abortions in the United States — involving both the surgical abortion procedure as well as the dangerous abortion drug RU 486 — is 1.2 million.
The NRLC analysis shows abortion numbers rising in the 1970s and, in the 1980s, abortion eventually mainstreamed itself to the point that about 1.55 million abortions were done annually until the early 1990s. At that point, as crisis pregnancy centers began turning the corner with the use of ultrasounds, pro-life state legislation began to take hold and the Internet allowed the pro-life perspective to flourish, abortions began to decline. The partial-birth abortion ban and the use of 3_D and 4_D ultrasounds is also credited.
“After reaching a high of over 1.6 million in 1990, the number of abortions annually performed in the U.S. has dropped back to levels not seen since the late 1970s,” NRLC says. The Guttmacher Institutes most recent abortion figures, from 2005, confirm the downward trend from a high of 1.6 million abortions in 1990 to 1.2 million that year. Without any hard figures in the last few years, NRLC estimates the number of abortions from 2006 to today at the same rate of 1.2 million that GI reported.
“Abortion has taken a terrible toll on America. We’ve now lost more than 54 million of our sons, daughters, friends, and neighbors and we are a much poorer nation for it,” O’Bannon said.
“Over the past twenty years, however, we have seen that pro-life efforts can make a difference, as the number of abortions performed in the U.S. has declined from 1.6 million to 1.2 million a year. We’ve still a long way to go, obviously, but we see that pro-life legislation, education, and outreach can save and has saved hundreds of thousands of lives,” O’Bannon added. “Our task is great, but our cause is just.”
As abortions have declined, the number of surgical abortion centers has declined as well. According to Operation Rescue, in 1991, there were over 2,176 surgical abortion clinics in America. Today there are 663. Nearly 70% of all surgical abortion clinics have closed in that time.
I must admit I was not even aware politically in 1973 when Roe vs. Wade was ruled on by the Supreme Court. I do remember an earlier experience when a cousin of mine came to OKC and asked me to drive her to a doctor who was going to perform an illegal abortion for her. Turns out that she was too far along and the baby eventually died a few days after being born. My image of abortions was back rooms and coat hangers. Abortions have since become mainly a method of birth control when the control should actually occur before pregnancy and not after.
Where did I come to believe that life begins at conception and abortion is another word for murder? From the pages of the BIble. Below are a few examples.
Job 31:15 Did not He who made me in the womb make him, And the same one fashion us in the womb?
Ps 139:13 For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother's womb.
Jer 1:5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you;
I have appointed you a prophet to the nations."
Hos 12:3 In the womb he took his brother by the heel, And in his maturity he contended with God.
Luke 1:15 "For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother's womb.
Luke 1:41 When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
These verses are speaking about Job, David, Jeremiah, Jacob, and John the Baptist. If we are indeed woven in our mother's womb, should we be interfering with the work of God? I think not. In the midst of my carnal thinking, abortion doesn't seem so bad when I see pictures of people named Pelosi, Reed, Oprah, Michael Moore, etc. but in reality God controls life and death and I have enough on my plate to answer to Him for without trying to determine who should live and who should die. I often stop and wonder: How many of those children could have been as gifted as John MacArthur, Billy Graham, Steve Jobs, or Bill Gates? Only eternity will tell how wrong we have been as a country in our support of abortion on demand.
Progress is being made but only divine intervention will eliminate the stains of abortion on our nation. Now, on to one of my favorite topics - adoption. Most of you know that both of our children are adopted. We adopted Mike as a newborn and Sheri at the age of ten months. Joyce was cleaning out some papers recently and I ran across a couple of interesting articles on adoption that she had saved. The first is a thought-provoking article about adoption. It reads as follows:
"Legacy of an Adopted Child"
Once there were two women who never knew each other. One you do not remember. The other you call Mother. Two different lives shaped to make yours
one. One became your guiding star. The other became your sun. The first gave you life and the second taught
you to live in it. The first gave you a need for love and the second was there
to give it. One gave you a nationality. The other gave you a name. One gave you seeds of talent. The other gave you an aim.
One gave you emotions. The
other calmed your fears. One saw your
first sweet smile. The other dried your
tears. One gave you up. It was
all that she could do. The other prayed
for a child- and God led her straight to you.
And now you ask me through your tears the age-old question through the
years - heredity or environment. Which are you the product of ? Neither my darling - just two different kinds
of love.
The other is from an editorial page in some newspaper many years ago. It is titled "Mother's Decision Admirable". It goes like this.
TO THE EDITOR:
Twenty-four years ago, a 19-year-old woman found out she was pregnant. Being single, and believing that a child should have two parents and a stable home, she decided to put the baby up for adoption.
Not far away, a couple hired a lawyer to aid them in the adoption of a newborn baby. Neither party knew the identity of the other. The young woman provided that child with the home she thought he deserved, and a married couple completed their family with the son they had been longing for.
Abortion is not a method of birth control, it's murder. When a child is conceived, that child has the right to a warm, loving home. As for a woman's right to make choices, she should choose to protect herself when having sexual intercourse, or be willing to accept the consequences.
Recently, I had the opportunity to meet the woman who had given her child up for adoption. I told her how much I admired her for making such a painful decision. I also told her how much I love her. You see, if she had chosen abortion over adoption, I wouldn't be writing this letter. I am her son.
I hope your reaction to the last two articles about adoption was different from the first article concerning abortion. To truly enjoy the concept of adoption, however, requires us to think about it in the spiritual realm as well. Some scriptures from Paul's writings high-light the significance of adoption as it pertains to the family of God.
Rom 8:15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!"
Rom 8:23 And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.
Gal 4:5-7 so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.
Eph 1:5-6 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
If you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ as your only hope of eternal life, you have been adopted into the family of God because He called you to be his own. You have been enabled to call God with the Jewish term of endearment, "Abba". My favorite Bible teacher paraphrased it this way, "My Sweet Daddy".As the shorter catechism says "The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever." John Piper has slightly modified this in his book "Desiring God" which introduces the term "Christian Hedonism". His modification is this. "The chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying him forever." Part of his reasoning is the use of the singular term "end" instead of "ends". Either way, our lives must glorify him and if they do, we will be enjoying our relationship with him. If this is not your position in life, won't you repent and turn to Christ today?
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