(LifeSiteNews) — Roe v. Wade is gone, and long-delayed abortion restrictions have gone into effect across the United States. So: are those laws working? Are we seeing less abortions performed or—put another way—are babies who would have been killed in the womb surviving because of these protections?
Roe has been gone for only four months, of course, so in many states it is simply too early to tell. Some women are driving out-of-state to procure abortions; others are ordering abortion pills through the mail. Abortion activists are promoting “do-it-yourself” manuals to walk women through feticide in their own homes. But despite that, there is some encouraging news.
At National Review, pro-life researcher and statistician Dr. Michael New analyzed recent abortion data released by the Society of Family Planning and concluded that, based on reviews of various abortion clinics, and comparing the decline of abortions in states with abortion restrictions with the rise in abortion rates in other states, “a total of 10,000 fewer abortions took place in June and July—a relatively modest decline, about 6 percent, in the incidence of abortion.” Still—that is 10,000 people.
Dr. New is more bullish about the impact of the Texas Heartbeat Act, which came into effect in early May and, he says, “reduced the number of abortions performed in Texas by more than 60 percent.” The Oklahoma heartbeat law, he observes, also precipitated a pre-Dobbs decline in the abortion rate.
READ: 40 Days for Life reports 228 babies saved so far during fall campaign
A recent report in the Texas Tribune concurs with New’s analysis, noting that the “number of abortions performed monthly in Texas declined from a few thousand to less than 10 after the state implemented a near-total ban on the procedure this summer, new data shows.” New studies cited by the Tribune observed that while some women are traveling out of state or aborting their children at home, “these alternatives have not fully compensated for the in-state declines.”
According to the Tribune, the abortion rate may soon fall even further, with the abortion rate in Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas declining a full 96% after June’s Dobbs decision. Many Americans, the report noted solemnly, have found themselves in a “vast abortion desert.” (In this sort of desert, however, people are more likely to live than to die.)
Other states have experienced slight increases in the abortion rate post-Dobbs, including New Jersey, North Carolina, Colorado, and Illinois. The long-term decline in the U.S. abortion rate had begun to reverse just before Roe v. Wade was overturned, primarily as a result of the COVID pandemic, and so researchers are still waiting for more data to determine where the post-Roe rate will settle and whether pro-life regimes in various states will have as dramatic an effect on the abortion rate as appears to be the case thus far in Texas.
UPDATE (1/24/23):
Pro-life priest and Red Rose Rescuer Fr. Fidelis Moscinski has been found guilty of violating the Freedom to Access Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act.
Yesterday Fr. Fidelis was convicted of the federal crime for a July 2022 “lock and block” rescue he conducted at a Planned Parenthood in Hempstead, New York. The priest is scheduled to be sentenced on April 24 and faces up to six months in federal prison.
Sign the petition to let Fr. Fidelis know you support him and are praying for him.
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UPDATE (10/26/22):
A Pennsylvania court issued a split ruling against a pro-life Franciscan priest and activist arrested after he entered an abortion clinic to help women choose life.
Father Christopher “Fidelis” Moscinski was found guilty of two misdemeanor charges and not guilty of a felony trespass and a misdemeanor resist, for participating in a Red Rose Rescue at a Planned Parenthood.
Fr. Moscinski entered the clinic on August 27, 2021 with red roses and pro-life literature ready to hand out to women and persuading them to choose life for their children.
Fr. Fidelis has participated in many Red Rose Rescues at abortion centers, and for this has been imprisoned multiple times.
He was also previously arrested for trying to save babies in Ohio in June 2021 and in New Jersey in January 2020.
After the court decision, Fr. Fidelis urged people to “continue keeping all pro-lifers anywhere who are facing charges, especially federal charges, in your prayers, and that God can bring some good out of this unjust persecution.”
Sign this petition today to let Fr. Fidelis know you stand with him and his heroic fight to save unborn lives from abortion.
Fellow pro-life activist and Red Rose Rescuer Will Goodman told LifeSite’s Jim Hale that the court’s ruling to drop one felony and reject another was a “big victory.”But the crackdown on pro-lifers continues!
Just recently the Biden administration targeted Fr. Fidelis and other pro-life activists for Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE) violation charges.
This same law was also used by the FBI to raid the home of pro-life Catholic dad Mark Houck last month.
It’s really a disgrace that in America pro-lifers are increasingly being attacked and persecuted simply because they stand for life.
Fr. Fidelis Moscinski needs your prayers and support now more than ever as he continues to fearlessly battle for the unborn.
SIGN THIS PETITION TODAY to tell Fr. Fidelis you stand with him and his courageous fight!
MORE INFORMATION:
‘Big victory’: Felonies tossed in split verdict for priest attempting rescue of unborn
BREAKING NEWS: Father Fidelis Legal Verdict reaction LIVE by Legal team
FBI charges pro-life priest with violating abortion access law one week after Mark Houck raid
In the meantime, the supposed “abortion advantage” the Democrats were banking on to pull them victorious across the finish line in November appears to have vanished. The Democrats believed that talking abortion would be advantageous for them—every second or third tweet by Joe Biden is a promise to “codify Roe” if only the American public will just give him a couple of senators. But as GOP opponents began to ask Democrats what sorts of pro-life laws they would support, there emerged an answer that the American public finds revolting: None at all. Every single Democratic candidate supports abortion on demand, with no limits, up until birth, preferably funded by the taxpayer.
That, as it turns out, has not shaped up to be the advantage that they thought it would be—and they will likely pay for it dearly at the ballot box next week.
