J

anuary 22 commemorates the 40th anniversary of a notorious decision passed down by the Supreme Court of the United States. Roe vs. Wade was followed by Doe vs. Bolton, allowing abortions to be legally performed at any stage of a pregnancy. 

There will be a demonstration march in Washington, D.C., with more than 250,000 people joining in the annual March for Life on Jan. 22. The mainstream media will probably offer little or no coverage of this event.

The original case of Roe vs. Wade was based on lies given to justify the need for this procedure. The first lie was the false testimony given by Jane Roe (real name Norma McCorvey) of being raped, and second was the erroneous information that back alley abortions were the cause of thousands of deaths of women. 

Since the case took several years to be heard by the Supreme Court, Mrs. McCorvey gave birth to her third child, a baby girl who was placed for adoption. Years later after the case was decided and Norma was working at an abortion clinic, because the friendship of a little girl, showing her love, and the friendship of one of the pastors working for the pro-life organization Operation Rescue, she turned her back on the multi-million dollar abortion industry. She has since dedicated her life to helping others suffering from the physical, emotional and spiritual damage of abortion. For more information check out the “Silent No More” campaign at silentnomoreawareness.org.

So much has happened in the past 40 years. The guarantee that the freedom of choice and privacy would enhance the lives of women has had the absolute opposite effect. To this day, more than 55 million babies have been aborted in the name of freedom of choice. Current data proves this is a vastly low estimate of the true number. Many states, like Alaska, did not require the reporting of abortion information until just a few years ago.

Two generations of Americans have been wiped out. Today the woman’s womb is the most dangerous place to be. One out of every three pregnancies ends in the termination of a life.

One victory, still being heard in lawsuits around our nation, is the case against Partial Birth Abortion, also called D&X. Abortions performed after 24 weeks have been recognized as taking a baby’s life at a time when he or she could viably live outside the womb. No more babies put in the corner and allowed to die alone. How could anyone be part of this grizzly procedure? 

With the availability of ultra-sound machines, pregnancy centers nationwide have seen an increase of their clients choosing life for the baby, up to a 75 percent increase. Pro-life pregnancy centers are increasingly concentrating their efforts in the inner city, lower income and predominantly black or Hispanic communities. These are the favored locations for most abortion centers and where Medicaid will pay the bill. Most Alaskans do not realize that Denali Kid Care also pays for abortions. This comes under the label of health care for the pregnant woman.

The biggest case against abortion is coming not just from the pro-life groups, but from the medical and scientific communities as well. The overwhelming evidence of the developing life of the fetus in the womb with heartbeats detected at 21 days, just three weeks after conception. All the baby needs is more time. 

Jan. 22 is a very sad day for the lives of so many babies that never see the light of day. Setting aside the moral or Christian value of life being sacred of protected we need to ask quite simply: “Is it a life?” 

Is it really any wonder this present generation that is now facing the future is making decisions that reflect little or no value for life? We are surrounded by the culture of death where 4,000 babies die daily, but yet people are more upset when a dead whale washes up on a beach or an eagle’s nest is blown down by the wind.

Let’s turn our hearts and minds back to the point where life is valuable and worth protecting at any stage.

Eileen Backer is a former 25-year board member and director of the Pregnancy Care Center in Homer, vice president of Peninsula Communications Inc., and, she writes, “most importantly mother of five and grandmother of 10 children.”