August 10, 2011

Column #1,563

What Is The Cost of Abortion to America?

By Mike McManus

            Go  to www.InvisibleInfants.org and click on “My Little Room Video” to see a smiling baby and hear a little girl’s voice, “Last night my mother and father came together and I was conceived. At that moment God gave me my soul. I am happy, nestled in my mother’s womb.  My mother does not yet know I am in here. I am a baby girl…I am getting big. Now I have eyes, hands and feet.”

            “I so hope my mother loves me and thinks I am sweet.  She and I are connected by an umbilical cord. This has been done by the Lord…

            “Today my mother found out I am here.  Suddenly I am full of fear. She is not happy. I am unwanted…My father too didn’t like the news. It seems my parents are not married so they’re not sure I should be carried. Hey, Mom.  I am not a tumor, and this body is mine.  An unborn child is not a malignancy!

            “…If I were born, I would have every right.  But in my mother’s womb, I can’t fight. I will die…Tomorrow is the day I’ll be killed…I’ll never get a chance to play dolls or go to school. Before I ever get my start, my parents will stop my little baby heart.”

            Most people know there are about a million abortions a year – 1,140,000 in 2010.

But do you realize how many babies were never born since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision? By the end of this year, 52.6 million children were killed by their own parents.

            This is a staggering carnage that violates the Commandment, “Thou shalt not kill.”

            It also undermines one of America’s sacred scriptures from the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

            Why doesn’t the invisible infant in the womb deserve to live?  Because it is inconvenient?  If so, why did the parents have sex without practicing birth control?

            In 1973 there were 744,000 abortions of babies who would be 38 years old, if they were alive today.  If about half had married and had an average of 2.1 children, another 390,000 babies would have been born. 

            On the assumption that people marry at age 24, About 10 million of those invisible infants would have married and would have had 10.8 million children of their own. Perhaps another 2 million babies would have been born out-of-wedlock.

            Consequently, America is missing about 65.5 million people. That is more people than live in New York, Los Angeles, and an additional 127  of America’s largest cities.

            The economic consequences of these missing people are staggering.  Marco Ciavolino, a computer consultant, created the Invisible Infants website and the spreadsheet which estimates that these people would have earned $5.7 trillion, (assuming an average per capita income of $26,000 according to Census).  They would have paid $1.4 trillion in taxes!

            When Marco was in grade school, the Roe decision was handed down by the Supreme Court. His mother posted a bumper sticker in their home, with a picture of a baby and the words: Never To Live Or Love.

            “I remember as a young person understanding the issue. I now see it as the single most threatening horror of modern times.  It is the deliberate and systematic dissolution of our population and our citizens.  It is at once horrific and yet goes on from day to day without anyone saying anything, treating it politely.”

            We live in a time of high unemployment.  If all those children had been born, wouldn’t the economy be worse?

            No. If those Invisible Infants had been born, they would have been a boon to the economy. This column noted recently that the 76 million Baby Boomers only had 49 million children.  No wonder they have trouble selling their houses and downsizing! If 38 million couples had the usual 2.1 children they would have had 80 million children. There would be no housing slump.

            More important, remember these words from Genesis: “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created them male and female.  God blessed them; and God said to them: `Be fruitful and multiply.”

            As Marco put it: “Human beings are distinctly valuable in courage and spirit. Any governmental system which treats individuals as supremely valuable, has succeeded.”

            Disclosure: My organization, Marriage Savers, is helping promote the InvisibleInfants.org website.