Roe v. Wade 40 years later: 55 Million Dead

Today, January 22, 2013, marks the 40th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that upturned common sense and the U.S. Bill of Rights by ruling it illegal to prevent a woman from aborting her unborn child.  The result, 40 years later, is that 55 million are dead—55,000,000 human beings, Americans, age 40 and under, are not alive today because they were aborted.  How many business leaders, artists, musicians, problem-solvers, engineers, Facebook users, husbands, fathers, mothers, priests, nuns and legislative leaders did we deny a chance to live?  Surely there was a future U.S. president among these unborn children.  Surely there were many great teachers who would have profoundly impacted and inspired future young lives.  Surely our economy would be different today had these unborn innocents been allowed to live. 

It is difficult to understand how any country would legalize the murder of its future citizens. But so it happened in the U.S., 40 years ago. 

Yet this most fundamental issue of human rights and justice—the right to be born—has not gone away. Far from it. Here are some highlights below.

According to a May 23, 2012, Gallup poll, more than 50% of Americans identified as pro-life, while those who identified as pro-abortion hit a record-low of 41%.  (Lydia Saad, "'Pro-Choice' Americans at Record-Low 41%," Gallup, May 23, 2012.

Dr. Bernard Nathanson, former abortionist and co-founder of NARAL (National Abortions Rights Advocacy League), radically changed his view seven years after the Supreme Court decision and in 1980 and spent the rest of his life a stellar pro-life speaker and advocate until his death in 2011.  Interestingly, later in life, he quietly became Catholic, having taken instruction by the late Cardinal O’Connor, Archbishop of New York.

Even the plaintiff in the original Roe v. Wade court case has become pro life. You might remember that stunning moment in 1995 when Norma McCorvey (the “Roe” in the original court case), radically changed her stand, became staunchly pro-life and, later, Catholic.

Abby Johnson, former Planned Parenthood clinic director, left the abortion industry after seeing an abortion on ultrasound. It made national headlines. She wrote about her first-hand experience inside Planned Parenthood and her change of conviction in the wildly popular book, Unplanned: The Dramatic True Story of a Former Planned Parenthood Leader's Eye-Opening Journey across the Life Line.  In June 2012, she founded “And Then There Were None” to reach out to abortion clinic workers who want to leave the abortion industry. So far, nearly 40 workers have left abortion clinic jobs in less than eight months.

Young people are increasingly pro-life, as evidenced in the tens of thousands who travel in the January cold to participate in the 39th Annual March for Life each year in D.C., as well as in the newer, Walk for Life West Coast and myriads of pro-life anniversary walks and rallies nationwide.

READ MORE - See the 40 bright spots in the pro-life effort here.

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