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Pro-Life Update The Pro-Life community has long warned that legalized abortion would lead to many other problems with our families and our communities. Pro-abortion activists argued that our communities would be safer and happier with only “wanted” children. However, crime has continued to increase, and single parenthood is more common than ever. Also, widespread legalized abortion and ultrasounds have raised more issues for our disabled community. Women are encouraged to undergo ultrasound screenings for Down syndrome and are often then counseled to abort their “imperfect” baby. Now, the Down syndrome community is dwindling and will likely not receive the amount of support it has in the past. We are currently facing a similar crossroad with the embryonic stem cell research (ESCR) debate. Pro-Life activists are arguing that ESCR is not only morally reprehensible and unnecessary, but also could lead to far greater problems. President Bush, thankfully, has taken a firm stand for life.
Please read this issue of the Pro-Life Update carefully to understand some of the challenges we now face and how you—an educated Pro-Lifer—can advance the Culture of Life. Please share this information with your family, friends, and church congregations. Make copies. Spread the news.
President Vetoes Embryo Destruction Bill On June 20, President Bush vetoed S. 5, which would have allowed federal tax dollars to be used as an incentive to destroy human embryos for stem-cell research. S. 5 was almost identical to a bill passed by Congress and vetoed by the President last year.
The U.S. Senate voted 63-34 in favor of S. 5, and sixty-seven votes are needed in the Senate to override the veto. Texas Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison (R) and John Cornyn (R) were split on the matter. Senator Hutchison voted in favor of funding research which destroys human life, while Senator Cornyn maintained his perfect Pro-Life record in the Senate.
The bill then moved to the U.S. House of Representatives, which took up S. 5 on June 7 and voted 247-176 to send the measure to President Bush. Two-hundred and ninety votes are needed in the House to override the President’s veto. Members of the Texas delegation to the House of Representatives voted against the bill and in favor of the sanctity of human life 17-15. Texas Congressmen Michael Burgess (R), Jeb Hensarling (R), Randy Neugebauer (R), and Pete Sessions (R) spoke passionately on the House floor against further destruction of human embryos. Congressmen Joe Barton (R) and Gene Green (D) and Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee (D) spoke in favor of the anti-life S. 5.
“Compelling American taxpayers to support the deliberate destruction of human embryos would be a grave mistake. I will not allow our Nation to cross this moral line. For that reason, I must veto this bill,” the President said in a statement after the veto.
Prenatal Testing and Down Syndrome Prenatal testing, whereby tests are performed in utero to verify the health of the child, is now considered standard prenatal care. Unborn children have been screened in the womb for Down syndrome in women over 35 for many years. However, just this year, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has started to recommend that doctors perform a new screening procedure on all pregnant women, regardless of age. These tests raise the question of what would happen if a family finds that their child does have Down syndrome or other disabilities. Is this information sought in order to better prepare parents or to abort less-than-perfect children before they are born?
Unfortunately, many families who are told that they have a child who is “imperfect” choose to end that baby’s life through abortion, and the health care providers do not discourage this choice. About 90% of parents who find that their child has Down syndrome choose to abort that child. A parent’s subjective view of the child’s quality of life, often coupled with pressure from the medical community, becomes the determining factor for whether that child is allowed to live. Prenatal diagnosis is not a perfect science, and many times, unborn children thought to be disabled are born without medical complications or disabilities. The converse also occurs, where no problems are detected in utero through prenatal tests, and a baby is born with multiple defects and disabilities.
This new test for Down syndrome, coupled with the extremely high rate of abortion for babies with Down syndrome, means that these children will likely grow up in a world with few people who are like them. There are currently about 350,000 people with Down syndrome. With a diminishing population, many parents are concerned that there will be less institutional support and reduced funds for medical research. For more information, read the July 2007 LifeLink at www.TexasRightToLife.com.
Abortion Leads to More Single Parent Families In a Wall Street Journal editorial entitled “It’s Not Enough to Be ‘Wanted’,” John R. Lott, Jr., commented on the fact that legalized abortion not only has led to a doubling of the abortion rate per live birth in the five years from 1972 to 1977, but has also led to sharp increases in pre-marital sex and out-of-wedlock births, a drop in the number of children placed for adoption, and a decline in marriages that occur after the woman is pregnant.
He addresses the seemingly contradictory facts of both the number of abortions rising as well as out-of-wedlock births increasing. He suggests that there has been a change in attitudes towards premarital sex. With abortion as a back-up, women and men have been more likely to have premarital sex. This fact, however, does not mean that all pregnancies will lead to abortion.
All these changes then led to more single parent families, with the most vulnerable in society suffering the most. These children from single parent families have faced problems at school and more crime. According to Lott, “With work and other demands on their time, single parents, no matter how ‘wanted’ their child may be, tend to devote less attention to their children than do married couples; after all, it’s difficult for one person to spend as much time with a child as two people can.” Therefore, he surmises, abortion may have created more “wanted” children, but it has created more out-of-wedlock births and single parenthood.
The Pro-Life movement still has much work to ensure that all people throughout the world are welcomed into Life and respected. If you would like any additional information on the topics discussed above, please send me a note or log onto www.TexasRightToLife.com. If you ever have questions about any Pro-Life issues, please be sure to let me know. Yours for Life, Dr. Joseph M. Graham President |
