A civil rights issue

More U.S. children have died from abortion than all Americans that were killed in the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, World War I and II, the Korean, Vietnam, and Gulf and Iraq Wars combined. According to the Alan Guttmacher Institute, approximately 1.37 million abortions occur annually in the United States, and approximately 46 million babies have been aborted since 1973—which is also the estimated yearly number aborted worldwide.

Once again, abortion is a hot topic with the nomination of Judge Samuel A. Alito. On a personal note, Janel is off-island and did not participate or preview this article. We both feel the same way about this controversial topic, but I take full responsibility for its content. I know that it may offend some, and I have put off writing this article many times; however, after reading about the verbal beating that Judge Alito has taken in a mockery of a confirmation hearing, I felt compelled to say something.

With all the pressing issues we face now, some senators chose to make the right to choose their central concern to determine whether Alito was worthy to become a Supreme Court judge. Rather than look at his track record and outstanding qualification, these senators—backed by powerful pro-abortion lobbies—turned the hearings into a debacle by demonstrating their singular devotion to a cultural war being waged in the United States.

The cultural left would like to redesign the foundation of the country, and when they cannot promote their cause through the voice of the people, they turn to the courts. “Political correctness” has become an agent by the cultural left to expose, depose, and impose their liberal vision, and remake the world in their own image. However, we are now on the brink of change, and the nature of the Supreme Court and the decisions they will make are hanging in the balance.

Abortion has become one of the most controversial issues in American politics, and this week marks the 33rd anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision on Jan. 22, 1973. This week is also being observed as the Sanctity of Human Life Week and it lasts until this Sunday. Its purpose is to remember the millions of babies lost because of abortion. Some statistics state that 51 percent of women who are unmarried when they become pregnant will have an abortion, and 43 percent of all woman will have had at least one abortion by the time they are 45 years old (this statistic, though, includes miscarriages as abortions).

From the moment of conception, each embryo has a unique genetic code, and since it is living, it is a human life—not a blob of growing tissue. The courts recognize this in cases where a mother and her unborn child’s life are taken, and the killer is charged with a double murder. Yet, when the same mother chooses to terminate the life of her growing fetus, the law considers it her right to choose.

After Susan Anne Catherine Torres was born last year, her brain-dead mother died two days later. Pro-life groups hoped that the birth would convince people who were undecided about abortion that the child living inside the womb is really a living human person that has the right to be protected. Abortion rights groups such as Planned Parenthood remained silent about the birth.

In the last 33 years, abortion has been compartmentalized as a religious issue, or a political issue, or a moral issue. It is really a human and civil rights issue. Either life—whether inside or outside the womb—matters, or it doesn’t. Either life is right, or it is not.

Is “choice” the real issue for pro-choice advocates? If so, then why not give full disclosure so individuals considering an abortion can carefully weigh all of the choices available to them. Pro-choice supporters tend to be against informed choice by rejecting proposals for a required pre-abortion counseling that includes a sonogram, information on medical procedures, alternatives to abortion, and potential physical and emotional health risks. If they were really pro-choice advocates of woman’s rights, they would also seek funds to support women in need who choose to have their baby. Instead, it appears that “choice” is used to dodge personal responsibility for an individual’s actions and promote an ideology of moral ambiguity in order to live guilt-free.

Even if in the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, abortion will not become “illegal” nor prohibit anyone from getting an abortion—it would just affirm that the federal government under the Constitution and the Bill of Rights is not authorized to have the ability to regulate abortion. It would give more autonomy for individual states to decide how to regulate abortion—just as the CNMI is allowed to regulate its own laws as a Commonwealth.

(Rik is a business instructor at NMC and Janel is the owner of Positively Outrageous Results. They can be contacted at: biz_results@yahoo.com)