In God We Trust

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.