In January, many people assemble in Washington, DC, to mark the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade ruling in 1973. This court decision wiped out the laws against abortion in the majority of the states and made the termination of a pregnancy at any time legal in all 50 states.

In 2017, one group donned pink “pussy hats” to support and celebrate in this court decision. They claim this decision gives women the right to “chose.”

Each year since 1974, another group has marched to stand against this license to kill unborn children and to ask people to choose life.

Pro-choice versus pro-life. Which side offers true choices?

“Pro-choice” offers only one choice

Those with unplanned pregnancies are often pressured by boyfriends, partners, parents, school, and society to abort. “A baby will ruin your life,” they are told. Feeling cornered, these women are led to believe they have no choice but to terminate the life of their children. Few of these fall under the “hard cases” category that the pro-abortion side often brings up.

Only about seven percent of abortions are performed for the mother’s health (4%), the baby’s possible health (3%), or rape (< 0.5%). The other 93 percent are done for social reasons. The top three reasons being the following: The woman feels unprepared to parent (25%); feels she can’t afford a baby (23%); or already has enough children to care for (19%).

Uninformed about their choices and the risks involved, women chose the only option mainstream culture allows them: abortion.

Pro-life is pro-choice

Yet other choices do exist. However, pro-abortion organizations disregard them. Abortion clinics make big money. They don’t have the best interests of women in mind, only their bottom line.

A December 2018 New York Times article declared that Planned Parenthood is accused of mistreating its pregnant employees.

In contrast, local crisis pregnancy centers provide free information, free services, free baby supplies, and a caring staff that listens and offers moral support. They explain fetal development and provide references to local doctors and community services. Some centers even offer free ultrasounds so the expectant parent(s) can see their babies.

Unlike abortion clinics, these nonprofits don’t have a financial interest in the women they assist. Instead, they help women to discover ways to care for their babies.

Choice: single parenting

Pregnancy centers equip both single women and couples to parent their children by offering free parenting classes, counseling, and access to support services. The federal healthcare law provides medical care for all needy expectant mothers. In Washington state, pregnant women receive top priority when they need housing assistance. Some colleges and universities offer financial aid and other assistance to single parents as well. So, a young mother can continue her education while raising her baby.

Choice: adoption

Adoption is a loving option for those not ready to parent. Pregnancy centers refer women (or birth couples) to adoption agencies. Adoption isn’t giving away a child. It allows a birth mother (or birth parents) to make a plan for her child to receive the best care possible. Adoption agencies today let the birth mother choose who will adopt her child.

Couples seeking to adopt a newborn must go through a complex screening and education process to demonstrate that they will make good parents. Then these families create photo albums to illustrate their lives, interests, and homes.

A birth mom tells the adoption agency what kind of family she’d like for her child. Then a social worker will select two or three families that match the birth mother’s description. The birth mom looks through the photo albums and chooses a family for her child.

If she wants, the birth mother can meet with the prospective adoptive couple. In many cases, various levels of open adoption are available. Sometimes the birth mom may only receive yearly photos and updates about her child. In another case, she might function as an “aunty” who is regularly involved in her child’s life.

“Pro-choice” is not pro-women

Not only do abortion clinics fail to offer women choices, but they also fail to provide women with the information they need to make an informed choice about her health.

Whenever anyone schedules a surgery, she will discuss with her doctor the process and the risks involved. This is also true with oral medication. A pharmacist will explain the risks and possible side effects of any prescription.

Abortion clinics, however, refuse to inform their patients about the physical and emotional risks involved with either a surgical or chemical abortion. Moreover, abortionists won’t discuss fetal development or allow a patient to see the ultrasound screen. Money, not the health of women, is their primary concern.

Real choices are informed choices

Pro-life organizations, on the other hand, explain the risks of abortion and allow women to make their own choice.

The physical risks of surgical abortion include extreme pain even under local anesthesia; complications such as bleeding, damage to the reproductive organs that can lead to infertility; damage to the bladder or bowels; and severe infection.

Chemical abortions exhibit similar effects such as extreme pain, bleeding, infection, and can lead to a ruptured ectopic pregnancy.

The psychological effects of abortion have been identified as Post-Abortion Syndrome. Post-abortive women report having nightmares about the abortion and are more likely to be depressed, have relational problems, abuse drugs and alcohol, and be suicidal. A chemical abortion may cause even more psychological trauma because women may see their unborn child’s perfectly formed body.

The issue that divides our nation

On Saturday, January 19, 2019, women will gather to join Women Marches. The sponsoring organization claims they bring “together people of all genders, ages, races, cultures, political affiliations, disabilities and backgrounds…to affirm [their] shared humanity and pronounce [their] bold message of resistance and self-determination.”

But they lie.

  • They refused to allow pro-life feminists to march.
  • They claim human rights for all people but not for the unborn.
  • They reject the self-determination of the unborn by supporting so-called “reproductive freedom.”
  • They claim to fight violence against women. But death by dismemberment is the cruelest form of violence.

On Friday, January 18, 2019, pro-lifers will gather for the March for Life. They welcome all who support the culture of life.

The original coordinators created this march because they feared “that January 22 would pass as any other day rather than allow for a moment to reflect upon how legalized abortion had hurt women and taken babies’ lives over the course of the [1973].”

Instead of being forgotten, the memory of this sad day is kept alive each year by men and women who believe all lives have value, including those of the unborn.

No one can make choices without life. Choose life.