Defend and protect

Dear editor;

January 22 marks the 33rd anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision of Roe v. Wade, allowing abortion on demand. This unjust ruling has resulted in more than 40 million dead babies.

It is a myth that Roe legalized abortion only for the first three months of pregnancy. The fact is that abortion is legal through all nine months of pregnancy. "In Roe v. Wade the Supreme Court rules that abortion may not be restricted at all in the first trimester. In the second trimester abortion may be regulated only for the mother's health. After 'viability' abortion may be prohibited except where necessary to preserve the mother's health."

"Roe's companion case, Doe v. Bolton, defined maternal 'health' as: 'all factors -- physical, emotional, psychological, familial and the woman's age -- relevant to the well-being of the patient.' Thus abortion is legal -- and cannot be prohibited -- in the seventh, eighth or ninth months of pregnancy if any of these reasons is invoked."

Two other myths are that most abortions are done because of maternal or fetal health problems or in cases of rape or incest and that most Americans favor U.S. abortion law. The Alan Guttmacher Institute, a research group affiliated with Planned Parenthood, conducted a comprehensive survey in 2004 to find out why women have abortions. Asked to list the most important reason for abortion, interestingly, just 4.5 percent of women cited rape, incest or the pregnancy causing life-threatening or severe health problems and just .5 percent of women said the abortion was because they were a victim of rape.

A new poll conducted by CBS News finds a majority oppose virtually all abortions in the United States. Those polled said they want either no abortions to occur or for abortions to be limited to very rare circumstances. Some 55 percent of Americans took a pro-life position on abortion. Of those, 33 percent said abortions should be "permitted only in cases such as rape, incest and to save the woman's life." The survey also found 17 percent said they would limit abortion only to cases where a woman's life is in danger and five percent said abortions should never be permitted. As a result, 55 percent of those polled indicated they oppose 95 percent or more of the 1.3 million abortions annually in the United States.

The general agreement among human embryologists is that the embryo and fetus are "human beings" in the early stage of development. Abortion destroys human life not potential human life. Therefore, based on a truth our nation's founding document called "self evident," "that all men are created equal ... endowed by their Creator with the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Support for laws that recognize and protect these human's right to life is no more an imposition of one's faith or theology than support for laws against murder in general. We must defend and protect all life, and we hope and we pray that our nation once again becomes a nation with liberty and justice not just for some, but for all.

McCook Right to Life Officers

Denise Sis

Geri Burns

Sally Loescher

Pat Burkey