Abortion breaks the cycle of poverty?

Last Thursday, Jan. 22, we joined over 300,000 other pro-lifers who flooded Washington D.C. for the anniversary of Roe v. Wade. The 2009 Pro-life March was a powerful event, (see pictures page 7) yet the endless procession of protesters marching down Pennsylvania Avenue, hardly made the news.

President Barack Obama, who chose not to address the crowd, issued a statement saying the government “should not intrude on our most private family matters,” reaffirming his support for abortion rights.

The day after he issued this statement, he struck down the Bush administration’s ban on giving federal money to international groups that perform abortions or provide abortion information.

Most of this money will go to third-world countries in areas of extreme poverty who can’t afford to feed themselves much less a population of unplanned children. Our president believes that the best way to help women out of this poverty is to provide contraceptives so they can have sex without getting pregnant and give them abortions when they do become pregnant. Putting religious issues aside, this seems like an easy solution to the problem.

But history has proven that these policies don’t work. The same principals have been in force in our own country for 36 years. Contraceptives and abortions are readily available. Many parents have taken a permissive attitude toward sex, telling their sons to use a condom or their daughters to go on the pill. In effect, giving them a nod of approval to have sex as long as they use contraceptives. Yet we have more unplanned pregnancies and single-parent families than ever before. Something else is at work here.

According to the U.S. census statistics, since 1950, the number of one-parent families has skyrocketed. This coincides with the introduction of the birth control pill in 1962 which led to the sexual revolution in the 60’s and the consequent legalization of abortion in 1973. Coincidence?
In 1970, 11 percent of all children lived in single-parent families. By 2006 that number had tripled to 34 percent or 25 million children living with one parent – the great majority with their single mother. This group included an alarming 48 percent of all African-American children, most living in poverty.

“While this is a sensitive and often divisive issue, no matter what our views, we are united in our determination to prevent unintended pregnancies, reduce the need for abortion, and support women and families in the choices they make,” Obama said.

If Obama is truly concerned with preventing unintended pregnancies and supporting families, he should look at the statistics which suggest just the opposite will happen.
So why aren’t these liberal policies working? God invented sex (go forth and multiply) to be a sacred act between a married man and woman. Anything less than that is man's futile attempt to subvert God's will and the consequences are evident.