Seven Ways Abortion has Changed the U.S.

Abortion in the United States has claimed the lives of over 54 million babies since its legalization in 1973 – this we know. It has stolen grandchildren; future friends; future spouses; and future doctors, humanitarians, and congresswomen. It’s an American tragedy, and we are witnessing the beginning stages of its long-awaited demise. Unfortunately, in addition to stealing the lives of innocent children, abortion has caused a great deal of damage to American culture.

If there is anything that population control committees and pro-aborts have succeeded at, it is convincing most of America that children are expensive, messy, freedom-stealing dream-squashers. The pro-abortion movement has helped to create a societal shift in our view of children. It took the joy of parenting and turned it into a tedious burden. Pro-aborts and population-control cohorts convinced women that in order to have a life of any value, they must have a career. As a result, children became an afterthought to many women. For example, often, if a woman in college finds herself unexpectedly pregnant, she is convinced she has no choice but to have an abortion because she’s been told that having a baby means she is guaranteed to be unsuccessful in college or stalled in her career. In addition, it seems that more children equals less success, less money, less possessions, and less free time, making children the apparent and ironic ultimate killers of fun.

Despite claims from early and current supporters of abortion that abortion availability leads to less child abuse because unwanted children are not born, the opposite has happened. Abortion has led to the devaluation of human life, especially of children, and therefore children are seen as expendable, undeserving creatures. In fact, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, sexual abuse of children rose 83% between 1986 and 1993. In addition, physical neglect of children rose 102%, and physical abuse of children rose 42%. Those numbers are staggering and, as reported by Life.org.nz, Dr. Philip G. Ney of the Department of Psychiatry at Royal Jubilee Hospital in Canada states that abortion is clearly a contributing factor to the rise in abuse because it creates guilt, frustration, and hostility as well as diminishes the significance of the once-unthinkable act of harming the defenseless.

Pro-abortionists have long claimed that access to abortion would lead to a decrease in crime because fewer children would be born to single mothers. But according to a 2007 study by John R. Lott, Jr. of the University of Maryland and John E. Whitley of the Institute for Defense and Analyses, there has actually been an increase in out-of-wedlock births in the U.S. since abortion became legal. In addition, there has been a decrease in the number of children given up for adoption and, therefore, an increase in the number of children being parented by single mothers. According to the study, this has lead to a 7% increase in murder rates. As reported by LifeNews.com, 5% of white children were born out of wedlock from 1965 to 1969, compared to 16% in the 1980s. Black children born out of wedlock increased from 35% to 62% over the same time period. And, unfortunately, due to the struggles of single parenthood, studies show that children of unwed mothers are more likely to become criminals.

People with disabilities have been fighting for their rights for decades. They have fought for better access to public buildings, the end of discrimination in the workplace, access to an equal education, and the world’s warped perception that life with a disability is not worth living. Abortion has set the disability civil rights movement back. Even some of those who affiliate themselves with the right to life believe that abortion should be legal when the unborn child is diagnosed with a disability or genetic condition. In fact, 90% of unborn children with Down syndrome are aborted. Children are also being aborted because they have cystic fibrosis, or a cleft palate. It’s discrimination in a society that works to create more accepting, diverse communities. So why are so many of us okay with deciding that a child with a disability would be better off dead?

Abortion wasn’t alone on this one; birth control played a huge part as well. Women have become much more sexually aggressive, and it’s touted as a good thing. However, birth control and abortion have helped to create a culture in which women are treated as sex objects. Predators are more likely to get away with sexually abusing their young victims because they can bring them to any abortion clinic with no questions asked. Abortion has opened the door for irresponsible, abusive men to be able to mistreat women more freely.

With the lack of respect for women brought on by birth control and abortion comes the destruction of the family. If an unwed couple find themselves pregnant, the man, rather than taking responsibility and marrying his girlfriend, feels that he can just pay for an abortion and be done with “it,” leaving the girlfriend to feel the loss, pain, and guilt. If the woman decides to have and keep the baby, she is now left alone to raise a child and the man is free to live his life as he pleases. In addition, married couples who find themselves unexpectedly pregnant often disagree on how to handle the situation, but the men have no say. If the wife has an abortion, and the husband doesn’t want her to, or vice-versa, the marriage can be destroyed.

In recent news, we have witnessed how abortion has lead to the acceptance of infanticide. Though infanticide in the U.S. is nothing new, the Journal of Medical Ethics recently published an article justifying “after-birth abortion.” The article states that newborn babies and unborn babies are both morally irrelevant and only potential persons; therefore, parents should be allowed to euthanize a newborn baby if they decide they don’t want him. Authors Alberto Giubilini and Francesca Minerva argue that after-birth abortion, or infanticide, should be legal for all of the same situations in which abortion is legal, which is for any reason at any time.

Abortion has been a dark cloud over the U.S. for 39 years. In that time we have become a culture of death, a people who collectively takes pleasure in witnessing the pain of other humans on reality television, who obsesses over celebrities with drug problems, and who chooses to selfishly focus on the material objects of our world. We don’t value each other as much, we don’t value our relationships as deeply, and we have become completely desensitized and unsympathetic. Thanks to abortion and the devaluing of human life, we are able to walk past a person dying in the street without a second thought, which is the same as killing the person ourselves.

This is a significant article that requires careful reading a couple of times followed by serious contemplation of what the inferential consequences may be of what I suspect is a perpetual watershed event. The legitimization of abortion is not going to be ended. At most it will be returned to the individual states purview. There will always be somewhere (San Francisco for instance) that will welcome abortion and its providers.

The most significant effect of abortion legitimization, to me, is the blurring of the line of the individuals right to life. If the mother can elect to destroy her offspring for any reason she sees fit why do not other players in society possess some right to do the same. Disabled children or adults are a serious drain on the resources of the community. Why should completely unproductive lives be extended. What are the rights of a child's life versus the consensus of the community or state on the reduction of greenhouse gases or carbon footprint reduction. These are not meant to be absurd remarks. Once the threshold is crossed many possibilities suggest themselves to those who would shape and manipulate the population. If life has no intrinsic value than it can be considered as a husbandman considers the development of his/her herd.

In America, all our constitutional protections rest on the Founders' premise that all human beings are "endowed by their Creator" with rights to both life and the liberty to "pursue happiness." That is the sole reason those rights are deemed unalienable--because they are derived, not from another human being, not from a government, not even from the mother, but from God.

"The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time: the hand of force may destroy, but cannot disjoin them." - Thomas Jefferson

That understanding underlies every other consideration embodied in our Declaration of Independence and Constitution. It is the very basis of our rights to life, liberty, and laws to protect them.

Since the 1970's, technological advances have enabled us to observe God's tiniest creations in the womb. We no longer have an excuse for imagining that these are blobs of tissue labeled "fetuses." They are living babies who will have life and liberty if we do not "destroy" them.

At the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington DC on February 3, 1994, Mother Teresa stated: “And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another?"

Indeed, if we cannot protect the life and liberty of these smallest versions of ourselves, even with their so-called "imperfections," then Mother Teresa's words take on significant meaning.

I understand that the article is sociological rather than spiritual, but the two cannot really be separated.

The primary spiritual damage that the current abortion regime did is that it made all Americans, as citizens of a republic supposedly run by the people and for the people complicit in murder of innocents.

The abortion regime also deprived us of the safety of knowing that the government we live under is legitimate. If they can do abortions in our names, what other legislation is out there in our name that is equally illegitimate? Why should we afford any authority to our government?

This part embraces insane falsehoods:

If an unwed couple find themselves pregnant, the man, rather than taking responsibility and marrying his girlfriend, feels that he can just pay for an abortion and be done with “it,” leaving the girlfriend to feel the loss, pain, and guilt.

The reality is that it is women who are killing the children by abortion, not the fathers of those children. in every case the woman, and the woman only, is legally authorized to sign for the abortion. Fathers of babies aren't looking to "be done with" fatherhood; fathers of babies are looking to protect their children from the women willfully killing those children via abortion.

If the woman decides to have and keep the baby, she is now left alone to raise a child and the man is free to live his life as he pleases.

Also completely opposite to actual reality: in most cases, the woman GETS THE PRIVILEGE of raising the couple's child while the father of the child is deprived of his right to live with his own child and parent.

I don’t consider those falsehoods at all because I know plenty of young men who think that way. I know literally two men my age who are pro-life.

With abortion, young men can have as much sex as they want and then tell women who get pregnant, “Well you can have an abortion, I’ll pay for it.” And they do (or in one case I’ve seen, they’ll chip in for half of it. Just so all things are fair!). I know one young woman who had an abortion because her boyfriend threatened to kill her if she didn’t. I know another one whose boyfriend left her because she refused to have an abortion; she can’t get any child support out of him and probably never will.

One of the greatest tragedies of abortion, once you get past all of the dead babies, is that fathers are denied the right to protect their children. What greater instinct does a father have? I would never deny this, and it is a tragedy. But that doesn’t mean that all women who get abortions are entirely responsible and their partners were poor wronged men who had no say in the matter. Plenty of those poor wronged men were the ones pushing for it in the first place. Abortion has created a culture of not only death but also irresponsibility, and you can’t possibly believe that 19-25 year old guys aren’t enchanted by the idea of sex without responsibilities. Legal abortion magically removes all the responsibilities of sex from those young men and places 100% of the burden on their female partners.

This is the breakdown that this piece is referring to. This culture has led young men (and women, but you already seem to have a grasp on that) to treat children as “the enemy” and abortion as salvation. This has led to a breakdown and general disregard for the family unit, as young people are no longer expected to become a family. They are expected to remain individuals and given license to kill to keep it that way.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.