Picture this — Washington, D.C.,1973. It’s a chilly bleak January morning and thousands are standing outside the steps of the Supreme Court waiting to hear the fate of millions of helpless Americans. One Texas woman, Norma McCorvey — commonly known as Jane Roe, had challenged her state’s abortion law after seeking the procedure illegally. The district court ruled in her favor, but after an appeal, the case found its way to the country’s highest court. The decision rendered that day became the source of endless controversy.
On Tuesday, opponents mourned the death of one-quarter of our generation, while supporters celebrated 29 years of a new right gained at the cost of another’s right to live. Although the decision was riddled with uncertainty and division, one thing is clear — it was ultimately founded upon malicious lies and misinformation.
There is a great deal most people don’t know about McCorvey that makes the story of Roe v. Wade more interesting. When Roe became part of the class-action lawsuit, she claimed to have sought an illegal abortion for her third pregnancy. She now admits this child was given up for adoption.
Her later testimony reveals that she had been a puppet for the pro-abortion lobby all along. To her dismay, she was never allowed a position with the National Abortion Rights League, the National Organization of Women, or Planned Parenthood. The story got a new twist in 1995 when she became a Christian and a zealous pro-life advocate. She now tours the country to set the record straight about the abortion industry and to uphold the sanctity of human life.
That’s just the beginning. In light of fierce opposition to legalized abortion prior to the 1960s, one must question how the pro-abortion coalition found so much success. Dr. Bernard Nathanson, former abortionist and co-founder of NARAL sheds light on the issue. Nathanson once operated the world’s largest abortion clinic and following his conversion, he documented an actual abortion in the video, The Silent Scream. In an interview, he claims the groups developed a sophisticated plan to skew polls and statistics while suppressing scientific evidence that life begins at conception. Polls were fabricated to show a majority in favor of legalized abortion. This became a self-fulfilling prophecy as most Americans don’t want to remain in the minority.
Supporters of abortion rights often say that before Roe v. Wade, more than 10,000 women died each year from illegal abortions. Nathanson, however, now admits that he and the other lobbyists created this number to win sympathy for their cause. The real number is actually closer to 200 per year. Once they gained ground in the public, abortion-rights proponents recruited McCorvey as the poster-child in the legal battlefield.
Although the court established the right to abortion, the right was at first limited to pregnancies during the first and second trimester. The court could not completely legalize third trimester abortions because at that stage, the child could survive outside the womb. At the time, this was its only universal standard in determining when life begins.
What if the court faced such a decision today? With our medical technology, doctors can see that three weeks into the pregnancy, a child’s heart begins to beat. One month later, he sucks his thumb and can make facial expressions. By 12 weeks, when most abortions occur, scientists tell us the fetus can feel the agonizing pain of being torn limb-by-limb from the womb.
For the most part, these medical facts remained in the dark in 1973. By today’s standards, the court could hardly claim that the origin of life is a matter of religious faith.
These lies continue nearly thirty years later. As a nation we have united in mourning the death of more than 2,000 victims of horrendous violence. Why then are we reluctant to mourn the daily loss of 4,000 victims of equally horrendous treatment?
Unfortunately for the unborn children, we are now in a very difficult position. The war against the innocents cannot be won merely by a reversal of that 29-year old decision. Hearts must change so that people everywhere will value human life. We must learn to love all people regardless of age, race or creed. We must uphold the compelling scientific evidence that shows that life begins at conception. We must help mothers with difficult pregnancies so they are not led to a decision that will haunt them forever.