Life vs Choice
By Dr. Rolando M. Ochoa
The recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court does
not ban abortions as many are saying. This decision
is correcting the wrong decision made by the
majority of the justices in 1973. It is up to each
state to decide whether or not abortion is legal.
Even the late liberal Justice Ruth Ginsberg declared
the 1973 as a “bad law.” The constitution’s framers
wanted the control of these type of decisions to be
in the hands of the people and its representatives
and not in the hands of the courts.
Of course, most everyone already knew that, but the
main stream media and many of the democratic party
leaders, as they normally do, are presenting empty
arguments and many of them inciting violence.
Abortion is not a constitutional or not even a human
right because its essence is the killing of a human
being. Many of these, who are protesting this latest
decision, do not accept the scientific fact that
life begins at the moment of conception, but yet are
strong proponents of laws for the protection of
fertilized eggs of other animals and birds. They
show an illogical reasoning clouded by their
political agenda to destroy the moral fiber of our
society.
I think is good to review some of the statistics in
order to analyze this issue with that additional
information. According to the June 24 2022 report by
The Pew Research Center, a respected institution,
the number of abortions has declined since the 1980
from over 1.4 million per year to around 900,000 in
2020 as reported by The Guttermacher Institute. The
Center for Disease Control (CDC) reported around
630,000 in 2019. These numbers are not adjusted for
the increase in population, availability of
contraceptives, and other demographic variances.
Abortions for women between the ages of 14 to 44 had
the following statistics per 1,000 women:
1980
2019
1981
2020
CDC
25
11
Guttermacher
29
14
These are still an enormous number of abortions. 95%
of 2019 abortions were done by clinics even though
clinics only represent 51% of the providers. 56%
were a product of surgery and 44% by the use of
medications. 85% of the women were unmarried and 38%
were non-Hispanic Black, 33% non-Hispanic White, 21%
Hispanic, and 7% from other races. 57% were in their
20s, 33% in their 30s, 4% in their 40s, and 9% from
13 to 19 years of age.
For 58% of the women this was their first abortion,
24% their second, 11% their third, and 8% their
fourth or higher. 93% occurred in the first
trimester (13 weeks), 6% in between 14 and 20 weeks,
and 1% in over 21 weeks.
It is clear from these statistics that the largest
cause of abortions is premarital and extramarital
unprotected sex by unmarried women below 40 years
old. Those in their 20s lead the way. These numbers
do not show the age of the men who impregnated these
women. Race has little effect even though you hear
ignorant people say that the non-Hispanic black
women will be the most affected by this latest
decision. This group represents 38%, the highest,
but not the majority.
The different factions of our society as a whole,
schools, and families need to unite in efforts to
educated, both young women and men, that they have
the choice not to have sex or the choice to have the
baby and take the responsibility to raise the baby
properly. There are also adoption alternatives. We
also need to educate them on the advantages of
sexual abstinence before marriage, the use of safe
contraceptives, and the evil of marriage infidelity
and abortions.
At the same time, we must exalt purity instead of
immorality, holiness instead of diabolic practices,
self-control instead of disordered instincts, and
parental responsibilities instead of selfish
behaviors. The main media and vehicles such as
movies, music, and videos, must change their message
and give the young people a positive and wholesome
one instead of the garbage they promulgate now. In
order to do all of these difficult tasks, we need to
work on changing the minds of our youth and of those
who have the ability to make these changes. Not only
by telling them they are wrong, but also by giving
them a chance to rectify their position and ask them
to join our camp.
The current U.S. Supreme Court’s decision does not
end this peaceful war. It is only a step in the
right direction. The peaceful fight for the right to
life must continue. We must close ranks and educate
our youth properly and continue to pray that God
will help us, so at the end, we will win this battle
of the war against the ideas that have damaged of
society, our country, our families, and our
children. Abortion is one of them. Let’s also work
on the others.