« Canada's First Christian Law School Opposed over Gay Lifestyle Ban | Main | Inauguration Roundup: Driscoll Questions President's Faith, Andy Stanley Calls Obama 'Pastor in Chief' »
January 22, 2013
Abortion Roundup: 40 Years Later, Only Evangelicals Support Repealing Roe v. Wade
New stats from Pew Forum lead roundup of what news outlets are noting on Roe's 40th anniversary.
On January 22, 1973, the United States Supreme Court handed down its decision in Roe v. Wade, guaranteeing a woman's legal right to an abortion. And although new research suggests that evangelicals are almost alone in their desire to completely overturn Roe, others have noted the pro-life movement is stronger than ever.
New research from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life indicates that 63 percent of those surveyed would oppose overturning Roe v. Wade; by contrast, 54 percent of white evangelical Protestants support overturning Roe, the only major religious group in which a majority favors doing so.
Pew found that "large percentages of white mainline Protestants (76%), Black Protestants (65%), and white Catholics (63%) say the ruling should not be overturned," along with "fully 82% of the religiously unaffiliated."
But the research also shows that only 4 in 10 Americans under age 30 today even know what Roe v. Wade is.
This ignorance is similar to the experience of many Southern Baptists in 1973, Baptist Press noted. However, the historic ruling galvanized the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), which has become "the most consistently pro-life, major religious denomination in terms of its rank and file" and fueled the denomination's Conservative Resurgence, according to Richard Land.
And although political opponents on both sides quickly geared up for an "epic conflict," the Washington Post reports that "today the battle is a slog of legislative fights and piecemeal regulations."
The national March for Life, which rallies against Roe v. Wade on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., is now led by new president Jeanne Monahan following the death of founder Nellie Gray last fall.
In a profile by Religion News Service, Monahan said the pro-life cause is "winning with young people and we’re winning with the American public ... We’re also winning one state at a time. More pro-life legislation has passed in the states than ever in the history of our country."
That could be because most Americans actually are conflicted on the morality of abortion, and a full repeal of Roe v. Wade would send the abortion rights issue back down to the state level, allowing each state to decide for itself whether or not to legalize the procedure.
Among states considering significant abortion measures, Virginia appears to be deadlocked. Conservative legislators recently blocked an attempt to repeal the state's mandatory ultrasound law. The same legislators also voted down "a bill that would have banned state-subsidized abortions for women with severely impaired fetuses."
Slate reports today that at least one abortion facility operates in each of the 50 states, but significant pro-life efforts in Alabama, South Dakota, and Mississippi could soon end legal abortions there.
Without an end to Roe in sight, other pro-life supporters are fighting abortion by raising awareness, evidenced by the proliferation of pregnancy centers nationwide. Pregnancy centers that provide access to ultrasounds, parenting classes, and other new-parent essentials are on the rise and now outnumber abortion clinics 2,500 to 1,800, according to the New York Times.
“(Pregnancy centers are) really the darlings of the pro-life movement,” Jeanneane Maxon, vice president for external affairs at Americans United for Life, told the Times. “That ground level, one-on-one, reaching-the-woman-where-she’s-at approach.”
CT has extensively reported on abortion, including that the rate of abortions has now fallen to a 10-year low. CT also reported the "pro-life surge" as political gains by U.S. conservatives have unleashed waves of anti-abortion legislation, including recent efforts to target government funding of Planned Parenthood. CT also discussed the true history of evangelicals and the pro-life movement.
Comments
Abortion will never be overturned on religious or moral basis. But it will finally be done-in due to financial considerations. Once the Social Security and Medicare benefits begin to dry up due to the fact that fewer and fewer people are paying into them, the voters will finally figure out that if only we had those 60-70 million aborted babies back and now old enough to pay into these support programs, you'll witness a rising demand of the general populace for the repeal of Roe vs. Wade. In this country only money talks.
Posted By: Van | January 22, 2013 2:28 PM
@Van - That almost makes sense, right up to the point that it doesn't. Considering (no matter whose survey you look at) the major factors for getting an abortion in the first place involve income level, hindrance to career and/or education, and maternal/fetal health, just how many of these people would be viable taxpayers by your definition? The bottom 40-something percent of our nation cost more in tax dollars than they generate. Would a 20% increase in out poor and/or unhealthy population really make up for the trillions of dollars of federal debt and deficit our nation is in which causes it to undercut SS and Medicare to begin with? Isn't the Baby Boom more responsible for the fast drain on those two programs right now? One could make an easier argument in the very opposite direction to yours and be just as right AND wrong.
Posted By: Marcus | January 23, 2013 8:43 AM
Sorry, Van, but an increase in unwanted fetuses doesn't benefit anyone. Additionally, thanks to ultrasound and in-utero testing, fetal anomolies can be detected earlier, resulting in fewer diseased or deformed fetuses that would turn into financial and societal drains on resources. Abortion has actually reduced our costs, as evidenced by the observation that crime rates dropped dramatically in the early 1990s, 18-25 years after legal abortion first became nationally available, because the unwanted fetuses that would have grown up into juvenile delinquents and then hardened thugs were not brought to term.
Posted By: Kat | January 25, 2013 12:23 AM
Kat, I would really like to see how one can connect increased abortions with a decreased crime rate!!! What kind of study is that, with hundreds of other factors involved???? I'll tell you what kind, a VERY questionable kind of study! Perhaps the decreased crime rate is due to more citizens having guns to protect themselves, that's much more likely. That's really very racist, which is in fact, how Planned Parenthood started, and Margaret Sanger and others were very racist and abortions were aimed at black babies. It still is today.
Posted By: stacy | January 25, 2013 1:18 PM
For all the pro choice folks, here are some Bible verses to contemplate:
For You formed my inward parts;
You wove me in my mother’s womb.
I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;
Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book were all written
The days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them.
Psalm 139:13-16
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
And before you were born I consecrated you;
I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
Jeremiah 1:5
For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb.
Luke 1:15
But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood,
Galatians 1: 15-16
Posted By: Jamie Johnson | January 26, 2013 5:21 PM
Stacey writes: "Kat, I would really like to see how one can connect increased abortions with a decreased crime rate!!! "
You're in luck! The book 'Freakanomics' shows exactly how the drop in crime in the 1990's correlated so precisely with a reduction in unwanted children in the mid-70s (due to abortion legalization in 1973). The book has been a bestseller for years and you can find it everywhere, including Amazon.
Posted By: Kathleen | January 26, 2013 5:39 PM
It's quite remarkable that what CT Magazine calls the "true history" of evangelicals on abortion does not contain any historical evidence.
Posted By: Jack | January 27, 2013 8:10 AM
Post a comment: