Abortion as a whole was looked down upon, up until the passage of Roe vs. Wade in 1973. Any abortion, up until “quickening” was highly discouraged. In the 1800’s, “quick” originally meant “alive”. Throughout history, quickening was considered to be the beginning of “life” by the unborn.
After 236 years of independence, Texas Alliance for Life interestingly showed in 1776 at the adoption of the Declaration, abortion was banned in all thirteen American colonies. Back when gynecology was first practiced in 1845 by J. Marion Sims, it was a ‘black’ art. It was only after success of early experiments on slave women, that Sims attempted operations on Caucasian women. This time with anesthesia.
Abortions were already prevalent in the US by the 1850s. Surprisingly, it was mostly married protestant women who were seeking, and receiving them.
Major gynecological breakthroughs were nil until the 1800’s, and the fact that life actually started immediately after fertilization, was not known until then. One by one, through the 19th century, every state passed its own law against abortion. By 1860, 85% of the population lived in states which had prohibited abortion with new laws. Because of progressing technology, the British Parliament (1869) passed “Offenses Against the Persons Act,” pushing a felony back to fertilization.
Boston surgeon Horatio Robinson Storer, M.D. (1830-1922), is known for his major role in Frederick N. Dyer’s “The Physician’s Crusade Against Abortion.”
Storer discovered many women had a history of induced abortion, so was very concerned about the predominance of criminal abortion. Dr. Storer was the chairman of the American Medical Association (AMA) committee in the fight against abortion since 1857. It was physicians, led by Storer, who led the effort to save the unborn.
A small increase in the number of children surviving abortion, immensely affects succeeding generations. Actually, many existing people can thank Storer for their life, as Dyer writes: “If only one generation showed an increase in surviving pregnancies amounting to three percent of children this would provide a parent (or two) for 5.9 percent of the next generation, at least one grandparent for 11.5 percent of the second generation, at least one great-grandparent for 21.6 percent of the third generation, etc…”
But in 1973, Roe vs. Wade was thought settled, and essentially became the law of the land. Per the Guttmacher Institute, abortions rose from 898,600 in 1974, to 1,570,700 in 1979. The increase, much smaller than projected, suggests laws against abortion continued to suppress the killing 6 yrs after their elimination. Abortions have already decreased from 1.6M/yr in 1979, to 1.1M/yr in 2012.
Recently, our president has increased ties between his administration and Planned Parenthood (PP) [Obama and Planned Parenthood: A Presidential Romance …]. PP’s Cecile Richards (CEO) was brought in to advise Obama. It’s also known PP, in numerous locations, is recommending sex-selected abortions [Exposed: Planned Parenthood Sells Tax–Funded Sex–Selection …].
From PP’s 2011 annual report, 46% of the total PPFA budget comes from taxpayers in the form of government funding.
Per the Susan B. Anthony List, it’s widely known PP is lobbying hard to preserve Obamacare, exactly how it’s written. It’s a direct vote to open the back door to billions of taxpayer dollars for abortion businesses (e.g., PP). The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates the taxes, fees, and penalties in Obamacare will cost more than $550 billion.
If enacted, Obamacare will force America into bankruptcy. On 4/25, Rush Limbaugh discussed how every taxpayer owes $138,000 to Obamacare. Worse still, it will kill millions who are bound to have an impact on American future.
Your call, this election. America lives, or dies a horrible death. It’s likely we know how Dr. Horatio Storer would’ve voted. With more certainty, we now know how Dr. Frederick Dyer will vote.
Kevin Roeten can be reached at [email protected].