In the business world, location is everything; it can be a key determinant of how prosperous an industry is able to become. In fact, the same holds true for the abortion industry.
Overall, the abortion industry continues to do extremely well in selling their services. Every year, over 1.3 million babies are aborted in the United States [1]. This means that every 26 seconds a preborn baby dies in America [2].
However, the success that the abortion industry finds in a given area depends on a large variety of factors. These include overall population and political culture, among many others. The result of this is a wide range of variability state by state.
For example, in 2007 New York reported that approximately 29.7% of pregnancies end in abortion [3]. Worse yet, this rate is 44.3% in New York City alone. In this same year, the number of reported abortions totaled over 121,000 [4]. In contrast, South Dakota reported 5.4% of pregnancies ending in abortion, with a total of 833 overall in 2007 [5].
The unfortunate truth in this discussion is that whether a preborn baby lives or dies is often entirely dependent on transient factors. These include the current amount of marketing that the abortion industry does in an area or the strength of local laws pertaining to abortion.
However, as we know, what is right and what is wrong does not magically change once a person crosses some type of arbitrary border. Nor does the preborn baby’s body fundamentally transform in the short time it takes to pass through the birth canal.
The scientific fact that conception is the beginning point of life is universal, and not subject to be changed by the whims of those who may wish it were otherwise.
It may still be true that the location in which people live can have a great impact on how well their human rights are protected, but this should not be the case. In the words of Martin Luther King Jr., “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” [6].
Those of us aware of the facts regarding abortion have a solemn moral obligation to do work for greater protection of the unborn everywhere, doing whatever we can whenever we can.
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References
[1] Guttmacher Institute. (2011). “Facts on Induced Abortion in the United States .”Guttmacher Institute, May 2011. Web. 12 Jun 2011. http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_induced_abortion.html
[2] Ibid
[3] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2011). “Abortion Surveillance — United States, 2007.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 25 Feb 2011. Web. 12 Jun 2011. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss6001a1.htm?s_cid=ss6001a1_w
[4] Ibid
[5] Ibid
[6] African Studies Center. (2011). “”Letter from a Birmingham Jail [King, Jr.].” University of Pennsylvania, 2010. Web. 12 Jun 2011. http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html
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