Pro-lifers recently observed the 28th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade. This and its companion case, Doe vs. Bolton, were the 1973 US Supreme Court decisions that legalized abortion for virtually any reason throughout the entire nine months of pregnancy. Since that time, over 40 million babies have died in the name of “choice.”
Forty million is such a big number that it’s hard to put the loss of that many unborn babies into perspective. Look at it this way. It would be the equivalent, according to the latest US Census Bureau statistics, of wiping out the entire population of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Missouri, South Carolina and Nebraska. Imagine the impact on our society, both emotionally and economically, if we suddenly lost all of these people.
The abortion industry has taken the same number of lives, but it kills unborn babies before they are visible to the naked eye. Further, it doesn’t take them all at once, creating bold, splashy headlines. However, abortion does kill 1.3 million babies annually. “Choice” quietly takes the lives of nearly 3,600 babies every day, almost 149 every hour, or one every 25 seconds. Those are the cold, hard, bloody facts.
In addition, millions of mothers and fathers of these aborted babies struggle daily with a past decision to abort their unborn babies. An abortion doesn’t just make you unpregnant. It makes you the parent of a dead baby.
Now that you know of the urgency, let’s do something about it. The first thing we need to do is educate others. Education is the foundation on which pro-life political and legislative victories are made. Pro-life education is the abortion industry’s worst nightmare. They don’t want anything interfering with their half-billion (yes billion) dollar business. But if we reach women with the facts before the abortionist does, they will choose life for their babies and the abortion chambers will sit empty.
Pro-life education can be approached in various ways. Let’s start with the basics. Educate yourself. The Internet can be very helpful here. Go to our web site, www.lifeissues.org or check out the many other pro-life sites available, then share this information with your immediate family members. Branch out from there to your extended family. Then try your newfound knowledge out on friends or neighbors. Don’t forget the members of your church or the people you work with. Always present the information in a calm, factual and loving manner. Imagine the impact you can have as one individual! Set a goal of educating at least 3 people you know every month until you’ve exhausted your list. Then make more friends.
If you are uncomfortable with the idea of talking to individuals, or you want to reach more people at a time, you can accomplish this task while letting someone else do the work. Arrange to educate your church, bible class, club, organization or circle of friends by asking a local pro-life educator to do it for you. Look in the phonebook for your Right to Life chapter or Crisis Pregnancy Center. They will have someone qualified to talk to your gathering. Make it your long-term goal to periodically have pro-life speakers address your group on the issues of abortion, infanticide and euthanasia.
If you are active in a pro-life organization, let me remind you of those tragic numbers. They aren’t just statistics. Each one represents a beautiful unborn baby who has parents that will also be affected by the abortion. You’d be hard pressed to have the opportunity to participate in such an easy and painless effort that has a likelihood of saving lives. You were placed here for such a time as this!
Make sure you’re educated and that you present yourself well. You represent the entire pro-life movement to these people. Don’t wait for speaking opportunities to come to you. Go out and seek them. Many churches, groups or organizations would appreciate benefiting from your knowledge. Ask people you know to initiate an invitation for you to speak to their group. But don’t be shy. Babies are dying with each passing day. You can’t be responsible for saving them all, but make it your goal to do what you can to save a few. Check with organizations like the Knights of Columbus and make arrangements to go back for multiple presentations. I do a few presentations with the expectation that I will return every year.
The benefit of pro-life education is a two-way street. After almost every presentation, I leave feeling great about what was accomplished and the friends that I’ve made. It’s wonderful to know that the effort you put forth may save a life and protect the parents from the often-devastating effects abortion brings.
Let’s all make a renewed effort to do whatever we can, regardless of where we are, to educate others about the reality of abortion. Life literally depends upon it.
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