The New Pro-Life Surge
When pro-choice groups can't get bills passed at the state level, they look for local municipalities where they can get propositions passed, Delahoyde said.
Care Net prepares their centers for the legislation, she said. "We send our public relations and legal people on the road. We provide a united front at the state house, and that's very effective."
Alliance Defense Fund also provides legal help through hundreds of attorneys connected to local pregnancy centers, she said.
"We train extensively," Delahoyde said. "We are pressing forward. Look, there are so many encouraging signs. The pro-choice brand is eroding."
Pendulum Swings
When Tryon gave birth to her second baby in December 1992, she was part of a trend. U.S. teen pregnancy rates had swelled to their all-time high—almost 12 percent of teenage girls—in 1990, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Abortion rates peaked at the same time, with 1.4 million abortions performed in 1990, according to the CDC. Public support of abortion was also high, with 56 percent of Americans labeling themselves pro-choice, according to Gallup. Just 33 percent self-identified as pro-life.
Some 20 years after Tryon was a pregnant teenager, the pendulum is swinging the other way. She is now an articulate leader at a pregnancy center, wife of a worship pastor, and mother of three school-age children.
"As a teenager, finding myself in an unplanned pregnancy was scary at best. Thankfully, I turned to a pregnancy resource center that provided not only free and confidential services to me, but treated me in a fair and professional manner, provided me life-giving options when I needed them most, and eased my fears," she testified before an Oregon Senate committee.
"My life and the life of my unborn baby were forever changed the minute I called on them for help. After being educated about all of my options, I chose an adoption plan that not only gave my baby a hope and a future, but it also gave it to me.
"It is devastating to think that the vital services I received so many years ago could be torn from those that so desperately need them today. I urge you to vote 'No' on this bill."
That bill in Oregon never came to a vote. But neither did another bill calling for a ban on abortions after 19 weeks.
Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra is a journalist based in the Chicago area.
Copyright © 2011 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.
Related Elsewhere:
Previous coverage related to abortion legislation and life ethics includes:
State Laws That Lower Abortions | Examining legal measures enacted to lower abortion rates. (April 4, 2011)
Live Action, Planned Parenthood, and a Year of Change| Surveying two months of dramatic news on the abortion front in the U.S. (February 24, 2011)
Abortion Case: Womb vs. Egg | Ethical issues abound in case of British Columbia couple who wanted surrogate mom to terminate pregnancy after baby was found to have Down Syndrome. (October 15, 2010)
CT covers more political developments on the politics blog.
Star Trek Into Darkness
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archae ologist
Dan h. uses the wrong scriptures and applies them wrongly to jusitfy disobedience to God and Jesus. First off, once the couple has sex, it is no longer their own bodies, thus the secular teaching that it is the woman's body so she gets to decide is wrong and christians should have no part of that argument. Second, you cannot expect the non-christian world to actor decide like christians do. They do not follow Christ and their decisions reflect that but that morality choice does not grant christians the right to force their morality upon others. Third, Christians are to treat others as their chosen morality dictates. 'Do unto others..." "Do good to them..." 'If you did it to them...you did it to me...' and on it goes. Put the Bible into practice Jesus's way and not your own and make an impact for Him instead of creating impassable stumblingblocks to salvation.
Anne D
Paul K wrote, "If I was a woman and got pregnant, I know that I would like to be the one to decide what I was going to do, I wouldn't want the government deciding for me." Unfortunately, many women who have had abortions weren't really free to make an informed choice. They were never told about fetal development or the fact that their unborn baby had a beating heart. I personally know several women who told me they never would have had abortions had they truly understood what abortion was. These women were just as much victims of abortion as their unborn children. A friend of mine who had several abortions told me, "There are two victims of an abortion: the woman and the child."
A Hermit
The majority of people, according to the 23 May 2011 Gallup poll, are not pro-life (49% pro-choice, 45% pro-life). 51% believe that abortion is morally wrong (39% morally acceptable). Only 22% of people want abortion illegal under all circumstances., while 50% want it legal under certain circumstances. A total ban on abortion is not politically possible at this time- however, the majority of Americans do believe abortion is wrong and want restrictions. The pro-life movement would be far better served by working to restrict abortion and working to foster the economic conditions and social conditions that will lead people to choose abortion less, than to outright ban it. How many babies could have been saved had a greater effort to do this had happened in the past?