Roe v. Wade: My Thoughts

The first thing I want to address is that we have a nation that is currently angry because Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court. I know I have friends who are hurting, they are angry, they are worried that they may not be able to have affordable healthcare. Believe it or not, those things worry me too; and what I address in this article should be taken as my opinion, I am neither lawyer nor doctor. I do know that the overturn of Roe v. Wade will not affect me in the way that it will effect others. As for this article, I am speaking towards abortion on demand and it's use as birth control; don't tell me it doesn't happen, I know it does.

Today, Sunday, June 26th, I had a lady say that the only reason we (Pro-life) wanted Roe v. Wade overturned was because there are less white children being born, due to interracial marriage and the LGBTQIA+ community being on the rise. I have never encountered such bigotry in my life. The reason I wanted Roe v. Wade overturned is that we are killing daily, children in this country. We speak about wanting to save children's lives every time there is a school shooting, but they refuse to acknowledge that abortions kill babies every day. I believe in the sanctity of life. I am also not just pro-birth. I believe that education should be free, if you want to send your kid to a private school, pay for it. College and Trade schools should be free; if you want a Master's or Doctorate degree you should have to pay for that. Childcare shouldn't be out of the roof, welfare should be a hand up not a hand out. I believe elder care should be affordable too. Before anyone states that I don't believe in better health care for women, I do. Women's healthcare includes: Women's health includes a wide range of specialties and focus areas, such as: Birth control, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and gynecology. Breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and other female cancers. Mammography. However, I don't see abortion listed as a medically necessary procedure and I am not saying it's not, I know there are extremely rare cases where it could be considered necessary, and I would hate for a woman not to be able to get the care they need. 

This isn't the case, you'll see the rest of the stats later, but the top three reasons for having an abortion are: 

19%	Done having children
23%	Can't afford a baby
25%	Not ready for a child

Less than 8% of abortions are due to being a victim of rape, fetal health or physical health issues. 

All of this being said, Friday, June 24th, 2022  was a historical day in the United States. Today Roe v. Wade was overturned in a unprecedented move by the US Supreme Court. For some this move is a reason for celebration and yet many are angry about the decision. I understand both sides of the argument. 

I understand in cases of incest and rape of minors. Even then, I believe that a woman of child bearing age should carry that child to full term. If you read the 213 page you will note that "Roe and Casey rely on the term "potential life." The document goes on to say that "Abortion is different because it destroys what Roe and Casey termed "potential life" and what the law challenged in this case calls an "unborn human being." You will also notice in the document on page 8, that "Abortion presents a profound moral question. The Constitution does not prohibit the citizens of each State from regulating or prohibiting abortion. Roe and Casey  arrogated that authority, the Court (SCOTUS) over rules those decisions and returns that authority to the people and their elected representatives. 

I don't know how many of my readers have read statistics on medical necessity of abortion, but honestly I pulled data from the CDC and there are very few that are medically necessary. 

According to the Guttmacher Institute, an estimated 930,160 abortions took place in the United States in 2020—up from 862,320  in 2017. In 2019, approximately 19% of U.S. pregnancies (excluding spontaneous miscarriages) ended in abortion. And who gets the most abortions in the US: 

• In 2019, unmarried women accounted for 86% of all abortions (CDC).
• Among married women, 4% of 2019 pregnancies (excluding spontaneous miscarriages) ended in abortion. Among unmarried women, 28% ended in abortion (CDC).
• Women in their 20s accounted for the majority of abortions in 2019 and had the highest abortion rates (CDC).
• Adolescents under 15 years obtained 0.2% of all 2019 abortions; women aged 15–19 years accounted for 8.5% (CDC).
  
  

Maybe you want to know why abortions happen: 

• In 2004, the Guttmacher Institute anonymously surveyed 1,209 post-abortive women from nine different abortion clinics across the country. Of the women surveyed, 957 provided a main reason for having an abortion. This table lists each reason and the percentage of respondents who chose it.

  Percentage	Reason
  <0.5%	Victim of rape
  3%	Fetal health problems
  4%	Physical health problems
  4%	Would interfere with education or career
  7%	Not mature enough to raise a child
  8%	Don't want to be a single mother
  19%	Done having children
  23%	Can't afford a baby
  25%	Not ready for a child
  6%	Other

• The state of Florida records a reason for every abortion that occurs within its borders each year. In 2020, there were 74,868 abortions in Florida. This table lists each reason and the percentage of abortions that occurred because of it.

  Percentage	Reason
  0.01%	The pregnancy resulted from an incestuous relationship
  0.15%	The woman was raped
  0.20%	The woman's life was endangered by the pregnancy
  0.98%	There was a serious fetal abnormality
  1.48%	The woman's physical health was threatened by the pregnancy
  1.88%	The woman's psychological health was threatened by the pregnancy
  20.4%	The woman aborted for social or economic reasons
  74.9%	No reason (elective) (1)

Now I know you are thinking, okay those are national statistics, they don't concern North Carolina; don't worry, I pulled NC stats too. 

According to the CDC 

Total Abortions (2020): 30,004

The North Carolina State Center for Health Statistics reports that 30,004 abortions took place in North Carolina during 2020. This number includes abortions performed on out-of-state residents but does not include abortions performed on North Carolina residents in other states.

According to Guttmacher

Estimated Total Abortions (2020): 31,850

The Guttmacher Institute estimates that approximately 31,850 abortions took place in North Carolina during 2020. This number includes abortions performed on out-of-state residents but does not include abortions performed on North Carolina residents in other states. The table below compares North Carolina abortion totals by selected year.

And here are NC's Abortion Restrictions: 

State Abortion Restrictions (2019):

• A woman must receive state-directed counseling about abortion and then wait 72 hours before the abortion takes place.
• Health plans offered in the state’s health exchange can only cover abortion in cases of life endangerment, rape or incest.
• The use of telemedicine for the performance of medication abortion is prohibited.
• Public health insurance can only cover abortion in cases of life endangerment, rape, or incest.
• The parent of a minor must consent before an abortion can take place.
• Public funding is available for abortion only in cases of life endangerment, rape or incest.
• A woman must undergo an ultrasound before obtaining an abortion.
• The state prohibits abortions performed for the purpose of sex selection.
• Abortion clinics must meet the same structural standards as other ambulatory surgical centers

1) https://abort73.com/abortion_facts/us_abortion_statistics/

Get Real

Lately God has put a burden on my heart for someone who came into my life a few years ago. In the past two years, she's been in and out of a relationship with a man that at one point told her "I don't believe in God the way you do." And her story is that she wants a man who will be the spiritual head of the household. She wants a mutually fulfilling, healthy relationship. Most recently, the man made some comments that were less than scriptural; less than a month of being apart she's right back with him waiting for the next time this man blows his stack.

Now I am not writing this to put this person down, but there is something there that God keeps putting this person on my heart. Having never been married or in any truly serious relationship, I haven't any idea why you would rationalize, minimize or even deny to yourself that what was said or done previously wasn't so bad. 

Psychologically speaking there is a very simple reason why these actions are dangerous in your relationships and affect your authenticity and how honest you are about who and what you're involved in: 

If you deny the existence of something it means you deny your feelings and perceptions, as well as the true impact of it and what it means to you and your relationship. 

If you minimize something, by playing down the significance of it which could be about the danger it could pose, what it means to the possibility of a mutually fulfilling, healthy relationship, or even what it means about your own actions, you're basically playing down your true feelings and perception of it as well as the impact. 

If you rationalize something and your doing it without healthy beliefs and relationship habits as a basis of your rationale, you'll end up rationalizing your true feelings and perception plus if your excusing, and justifying, your denying. Instead of taking the simple but what may be more painful meaning of that something you rationalize it to make it more palatable. 

By engaging in aforementioned activities you are setting yourself up for failure. You are setting yourself up in such a way that God can't bring the blessings he wants you to get.  At this point I would tell my neighbor, it's time that you get real. GET REAL even if it means being with out a man for a while, GET REAL even if it means that you learn something painful about yourself or them. GET REAL because the IMPACT of that LESSON is far reaching, positive consequences for you and ultimately if being HAPPY and having a mutually fulfilling healthy relationship is what you have your eye on, trust me, this bit of feed back is worth it. 

This man is going to keep coming back as long as he thinks the door is open; and frankly, the door needs to be closed, you aren't going to change him, he doesn't want to change. Just because he is sitting in the pew beside you doesn't make him a Christian and what you are doing is hoping he will change. 

Sometimes you have to take a step back, you have to sit alone, and you have to listen to what God is telling you. Sometimes, it has to be just God, Jesus and you; and that is perfectly fine! It's in those moments that God often speaks to you if you want to hear Him. I am sure God has someone out there for this person; I just have a really hard time that its the agnostic sitting in the pew beside her.