Redstate

The number of reported abortions since Roe v. Wade is 50,000,000+. That is 17,000,000 more than the current estimated population of Canada!

Doe v. Bolton extended the opportunity for abortion all the way to the ninth month to be able to protect the 'well being' of the mother. I am not against abortion in terms of truly saving the physical well being of the mother. At that point it's not an abortion as much as it is a life saving measure! One dead or two dead, one dead is my vote! The extension to the fuzzy term 'well being of the mother' allows for abortion for any reason, just tell a shrink you're afraid of motherhood or something. I'm sure Planned Parenthood has a list of accomodating psychiatrists.

Planned Parenthood in their 2006-2007 Annual report cited these statistics: in 2005 calendar year 264,943 abortion procedures/2,413 adoption referrals. In calendar year 2006 the numbers are 289,750 abortion procedures/2410 adoption referrals. Planned Parenthood only accounts for approximately 25% fo abortions procedures in the United States. At $400/procedure that equals to about $115 Million! Since adopton referrals don't generate income guess which choice is the preferred choice!

Note in the previous paragrah that although thenumber of abortion procedures increased by about 9% the number of adoption referrals remained nearly the same.

As to your assessment of the causes of the rise in abortions: I think you've pretty much nailed it! Unfortunately, my generation came up with the "if it feels good, do it!" mantra and that is precisely what caused the decline in moral values. I will admit that when the Roe v. Wade was announced, in a moral sense I disagreed with it, in a secular sense my thought was 'well, it is her body".

As I grew older and wiser in the ways of the world my view in the moral sense didn't change but my secular view did. As I saw the cavalier attitude toward the unborn become prevalent I came to the belief that abortion was just another word for murder.

My view of this crystallized beyond any chance of changing when my pregnant girlfriend decided our baby would interfere with her life plans and had an abortion on Feb 2, 1993.

What can we do to change it! Teaching moral values is a start but I think the current generation won't change its collective mind. I could be wrong, I hope I am. Maybe we can target the young generation. Change the law? Until you change the mindset it won't accomplish much!

Many of the decisions to have abortions are economic, some have a fear of 'going it alone', some are pressured by outside influences as the easy answer to the problem. The after effects of abortion aren't pretty either. Alcoholism, drug addiction and even suicide can and does occur with frequent regularity.

There are organizations that have prenatal counseling where the well being of both the mother and the baby are taken into account. There are also organizations who help with post abortion counseling. Women aren't the only ones who can hurt after an abortion. Counseling helped me! It will never take away the pain I feel at the loss of my child! Even though I never held my child in my arms or saw his/her face I still hurt.

Find these organizations and help them. Most of them rely on donations. They don't get $336.7 million a year from the Gov't like Planned Parenthood does.

I've got other things I can say but I'll wait a while. Maybe someone can say it better than I can.

All I can really do is hope and pray that somehow we can turn the tide.

"Change the law? Until you change the mindset it won't accomplish much!"

People could argue the same about drugs, prostitution, and even slavery. But by changing the laws we can reduce the numbers even if we can't eliminate the practice entirely.

Laws that should happen!
1) Make elective abortion illegal
2) Set up a review board to approve medically indicated abortions. For cases where time is an issue in treatment (early pre-eclampsia in the mother etc.) this board will review the medical records to ensure the abortion was necessary. There will be a board for each city in connection with already existing medical boards, and they will report quarterly to the state.
3) Permanently pull the license to practice and FDA prescription licenses from all non-complying physicians. Also, set up an appeals process for Doctors to defend their reasoning as to why it medically nessicary to abort before obtaining board approval if there is a disagreement between the board and a physician.
4) Jail, fines, and a public website (similar to the sex offender site) for second time abortion offenders, both Doctors and women. (I know people don't like the idea of fining or jailing women, but to stop prostitution we go after the Johns. There will be a supply of abortions unless we cut into the demand).

This will drastically reduce the number of abortions and makes room for and establishes a process for medical emergency abortions to save the mother.

The argument that we don't need to make laws but educate only works if people are willing to make every other crime legal as well.

However, right now the best we can do is try to push for originalist judges who will get rid of Roe and Casey (and pray).

I'm truely sorry to hear about your loss, but blessed that you shared and hope that you will continue to spread the message.

There's no need for you to post the first comment to your blog. Some sites expect you to post first, but not RedState.

If you realize your forgot to say something right after you post, you can edit your blog entry. But beyond that, you don't need to post a comment to "get to ball rolling".

And Rightly So!

Liberals and feminists to legalize abortion--it may take as long for us to reverse the damage and make it illegal again. But it is the responsibility of a just and principled party to strive to make its Nation just and principled.

Let's not forget what had to be done to stop the slave trade in England, or Slavery in the US, or Apartheid in Africa. Let’s not forget that bride burnings were traditional in India for years. Let's not forget that we once lobotomized the insane.

Convenient social institutions and practices take a long time and a lot of struggle to overcome, but any practice that says one life is worth less than another because it is black, female, retarded, or....unborn is fundamentally unjust--and can not be tolerated in a nation of reason, principal, freedom, and equality under the law. Evil practices must be seen for what they are, even if they have become political juggernauts, we must strive to stop their momentum. We must push them back.

accumulated death count since RVW, not necessarily the year by year breakdown. Yes we are aborting fewer than previously. In the late 1980's it was almost 1/3 pregnancies.

But good point and good Clarification

Yes, the rate of abortions in the US has been dropping steadily since 1990 and reached its lowest point ever in 2005, the last year for which statistics have been analyzed.

Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, March 2008 (pdf document).

I think those on both side of the choice issue can applaud this trend.

Yes, the rate of abortions in the US has been dropping steadily since 1990 and reached its lowest point ever in 2005, the last year for which statistics have been analyzed.

Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, March 2008 (pdf document).

I think those on both sides of the choice issue can applaud this trend.

for the decline is better birth control measures. Most notably the 'mrnign after' pill.

of a fertilized egg (zygote at the blastocyst stage), that it is essentially an abortion. It doesn't forceably remove a fetus, but makes it so there is less endometrium to implant on.

Although I am opposed to it in principle it is less morally repugnant than an abortion. The failure to implant does sometimes occur without outside influence and probably occurs more frequently than we know!

Morning after pill better than abortion, but more effective control over conception is better yet.

Increased use of IUD's better. Part of the problem with unwanted pregnancy in this country is our reliance on the pill and condoms to prevent pregnancy.

From MDConsult
Condoms failure rate at preventing pregnancy is 15% per year
The birth control pill (not to be confused with the morning after pill) is 5-12% per year depending on which study you believe.
IUD is .08% per year failure rate.

This is probably due to forgotten doses and incorrect or inconsistant condom usage. (You can't forget to take your IUD, and it doesn't rely on your boyfriend being cool with it)

yet we continue to rely on the first two, because doctors don't like to place IUD's in females who are not in monogamous relationships. The reasoning behind this is that IUD's could theoretically increase the risk of PID in women who contract STD's. This is an old concern that isn't founded on evidence based medicine. But Doctors are afraid of lawsuits if they do anything against the historical medical dogma. Several studies in Europe though, have shown IUD to be a safe and effective alternative to the birth control pill. If used in America more widely, our abortion rate would go down WITHOUT using the morning after pill

1) First, before any of this is possible, we need to get McCain in so that he can appoint some more conservative judges, otherwise any law that is made won't stand anyway.

2) Next cycle (if we get the judged this time around) put these suggestions as a plank in the Republican platform.

3) The idea behind this post is to apply a National law that leaves some room for state rights. For example

Federally/nationally--Set minimum requirements. All elective abortion illegal. Punished by x-years minimum jail sentence, x-dollars fines, and loss of license to practice medicine.

State/local--decide on what types of medically indicated abortions are allowed and at what stage of pregnancy. For example are Down's babies diagnosed in-utero abortable? How great a chance does a mother have to have of dying to abort? Are rape or incest pregnancies an appropriate medical indication? Does toxin or x-ray exposure while pregnant allow for an appropriate indication? States may also impose sanctions, punishment, and fines above and beyond the national minimum if they desire.

4)The advisory boards would bean extension of already existing state Medical boards.

This is an emotional issue for me. I'm a bastard child of a prom pregnancy, who's mom nearly aborted me after abortion being suggested by her friends, family, doctor, school councilor, and even pastor! She decided to give me up for adoption instead and I got two wonderful, able, loving, and financially stable parents. And I was able to meet my birth mom and her two legitimate children. They came to my wedding. They came to my graduation. My life has been full and meaningful because my mother didn't buy the liberal lie that a life isn't a life unless it can talk back!

How many lives like mine were snuffed out due to abortion?? I cannot stay quiet nor can I vote for anyone who is willing to simply tolerate the practice.

This is the reason I dislike Obama--he voted to allow abortions at almost any age, even when most people in his own party did not take their pro abortion stance so far.

This is also why I love Huckabee. He has been the most outspoken legitimate candidate on abortion in a long time.

This is why I support McCain-he'll be in a position to appoint good judges, and hopefully pick up Huckabee as a running mate.