Tuesday, January 24, 2006

A SAD ANNIVERSARY

The common claim of pro-life advocates is that child abuse rates go up when abortion is freely available. However, that is not statistically true. Abortion rates are going down but child fatalities due to abuse are going up. More sadly, abortion rates are going up among poor women because of increasing child and general poverty rates.

These are not the soundbites you hear on the daily news about Roe vs. Wade but what needs to be noted.  Abortion shouldn’t be the issue but the increasing hopelessness of the American economy should be apparent to anyone who sees these tragic statistics of people without health care, without jobs, and without hope.

The focus should not be on whether or not abortion is legal but how the United States will respond to an economy that is becoming quicksand for so many women, children, and men. The problem of unplanned pregnancies won’t be solved by limiting abortion rights but by creating a country with a more equitable standard of living for each and every citizen at every stage of life.