Ethics & Religion
Feb. 2, 2017
Column #1,849
Hundreds of Thousands Marched for Life
By Mike McManus

Psalm 139 praises God, "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, l because I am fearfully and wonderfully made."

Yet in 2014 926,200 babies were aborted in the United States according to the Guttmacher Institute. There are two pieces of good news, however. The numbers were down 14% since 2011. And they have fallen from 1.6 million in 1990.

I am one of those who is passionately PRO LIFE, and am grateful to the organizers of the March for Life, who attracted several hundred thousand people to hear Vice President Mike Pence declare that the Trump Administration is determined to advance the fight against abortion. "We will not grow weary. We will not rest, until we restore a culture of life in America for ourselves and our posterity."

As the first Vice President ever to address the annual March for Life, Pence said the Administration is committed to "end taxpayer funding of abortion and abortion providers," like Planned Parenthood. For 30 years, Congress has attached the "Hyde Amendment" to appropriations bills to prevent federal funds from being used to pay for abortions or for health care plans that included abortion coverage.

"Abortion is not health care, but Obamacare violates this longstanding consensus and bypasses the Hyde Amendment by giving taxpayer subsidies for abortions in the form of tax credits for healthcare plans which include abortion coverage," charges Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council.

To end such subsidies, the House just enacted H.R. 7, the "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act." That would make the Hyde Amendment permanent.

Secondly, Planned Parenthood should no longer receive federal funding. Planned Parenthood is awarded approximately $500 million a year in taxpayer funds, according to the Government Accounting Office. It claims none of the money is used for abortions, but Planned Parenthood conducted 324,000 abortions in 2014 - by far America's largest abortion provider.

President Trump has already taken another important pro-life step. In one of his first official acts, he issued an Executive Order to halt federal funds from going to foreign non-governmental organizations that perform abortions or "actively promote" abortion as a method of family planning.

President Ronald Reagan signed the first such order in 1984 at the UN population conference in Mexico City. U.S. aid would be limited to health care, humanitarian relief and even family planning, but would not subsidize abortion overseas. However, President Clinton rescinded the Mexico City policy after his Inauguration in 1993.

President George Bush restored the order on Jan. 22, 2001, noting that U.S. funds were "complicit in China's forced abortion and sterilization program," and withdrew federal funding.

However, President Obama ignored such facts and rescinded Bush's order! Trump has now put it back in place.

Polls show it was a popular step. A new Marist poll reports 83% oppose federal funding of overseas abortions, and almost two-thirds of Americans oppose federal funding of U.S. abortions.

Furthermore, 74% - including 54% of pro-choice individuals - support placing some restrictions on abortion, such as limiting it to the first three months of pregnancy or only for "extreme" cases of rape, incest or the mother's health.

Yet there have been 58 million U.S. abortions since Roe v. Wade, despite 44 years of March for Life events.

Mother Teresa once said "Abortion is profoundly anti-woman. Choosing life empowers women."

What is often forgotten is the "adoption option." Steve Jobs, co-founder of the Apple Computer, was adopted. There are 650,000 adopted children in America.

Rep. Mia Love told the March for Life about a couple in Utah who became pregnant 41 years ago after having two children. They were hard-pressed financially and considered abortion, but gave birth. And that baby became the first black female Republican ever elected to Congress - Rep. Mia Love. As she told the crowd, "Each living child has the potential for greatness....I survived Roe v. Wade!"

May her story inspire Americans to cherish all lives - whether in the womb or as a child, or as an adult.

The Word of God tells us to "Rescue those who are being taken away to death, hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter." (Proverbs 24:11)

Every life matters.

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Copyright (c) 2017 Michael J. McManus, a syndicated columnist and past president of Marriage Savers. For previous columns go to  www.ethicsandreligion.org. Hit Search for any topic.