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On this Friday, the defense of the unborn won a historic victory. The Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, giving states the power to regulate the legality of abortion and striking down the 1973 decision recognizing abortion as a constitutional right. “The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote.
The Roe v. Wade ruling (1973) prevented states from regulating or banning abortion in the first trimester. With that historic ruling issued this Friday, June 24, each state will be free to set rules according to its beliefs and values without being constrained by the Court’s justices. “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the elected representatives of the people,” Justice Alito wrote.
GOP States Respond
In anticipation of this decision, in recent months at least 13 GOP-governed states passed legislation to regulate abortion in the event the Court reversed Roe v. Wade. It is critical to make clear that the Court’s decision is in no way a ban on abortion, as the left is portraying it. Progressive states like New York will continue to have the same freedom they have today. This decision is about allowing pro-life states to have no limitations imposed on them by Court justices when it comes to regulating abortion. Fundamentally, it means giving more power to individuals.
Abortion is not a minor issue in this country. More than 63 million abortions have been performed in the United States since 1973, to be exact: 63,459,781, that’s the figure estimated by the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), compiling reports from the CDC and the Guttmacher Institute. According to CDC figures, in 2019 there were 629,898 abortions, that’s 1,725 abortions per day, 71 per hour, 1 every minute. In the United States, one in seven babies is aborted.
Abortion Affects Minorities
Abortion, moreover, is sadly related to racist practices that should lead us to reflect on the efficacy of the state in its mission to help the most vulnerable. If we look specifically at the Afro-descendant population, one out of every three Afro-descendant babies is aborted in this country. In New York, there are occasions (years) when more African-American babies are aborted than are born alive. There, the abortion rate among black mothers is more than three times higher than among white mothers. The state should be helping vulnerable populations to have opportunities to raise their families, not facilitating the death of babies— in many cases with taxpayer money — as a supposed way out of difficult situations. Death should not be a state policy.
Finally, every year there are campaigns to raise public awareness about different diseases that cause high numbers of deaths, but in the face of the millions of deaths of the unborn, little is done to try to save them, and there is much activism — even from the government — to normalize abortion. Deaths from abortion far exceed those caused by cancer, violent crime, heart disease, AIDS, or accidents. According to NRLC, more than 800,000 babies will die before birth this year. Many of those abortions are paid for with Americans’ money.
The Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade transfers power to individuals to make decisions in their communities regarding a situation as fundamental as abortion. Today is a great triumph for life and liberty.
Vanessa Vallejo. Co-editor-in-chief of El American. Economist. Podcaster. Political and economic analysis of America. Colombian exile in the United States // Vanessa Vallejo. Co-editora en jefe de El American. Economista. Podcaster. Análisis político y económico de América. Colombiana exiliada en EE. UU.