2018 | Week of January 8 | #1237
This month we recognize and repudiate the 45th year of the legalized killing of unborn children in America, foisted on us by a rogue US Supreme Court. Seven justices essentially concocted a constitutional right for this heinous brutality out of nothing and then arrogantly wrote of “penumbras” and “emanations,” as if by such words they could cover the debauchery they legalized. The truth is this decision has had a profound impact on our country and created some stark realities.
Since the right of states to outlaw abortion was ripped away, collectively over 59 million babies have died at the hands of abortionists. Let’s put that in perspective. That number is more than 20 million more than the number of people living in California, our most populous state, That’s 12 million more than our next two most populous states combined, Texas and Florida, and it’s over two million more than the next four states combined—New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Ohio. All these people—all these states—gone.
These are staggering numbers and staggering realities. Nearly 60 million lives ended before they drew their first breath. Frankly, the horrific nature of this reality should be breath-taking for us.
Let’s bring this down to our state level. Since Roe v. Wade, Wisconsin has had more than 523,000 abortions.[1] That’s as if we had obliterated 70,000 of our state’s largest city, Milwaukee. Looking at it another way, that number is only slightly more than the combined population of our next 5 largest cities: Madison, Green Bay, Kenosha, Racine and Appleton. Take a moment to imagine Wisconsin without those 5 communities. With a total population of just under 5.7 million, it’s as if we did away with nearly 10% of the current citizens.
These losses have very real-life implications. From time to time, economists have tried to figure the economic impact of abortion. One figure I have seen says conservatively we have lost at least $37 trillion from these lives that were never allowed to happen, these souls that were never permitted to grow up and become not just consumers but contributors to our national and state economies. They never became parents, bringing yet more babies into the world—a reality every society desperately needs in order to just survive.
Demographers talk about “demographic winters,” when populations are dangerously close to extinction because they simply haven’t had enough babies to replenish their population. Wisconsin is already experiencing demographic winter in over 20 of our counties, with more people dying each year than being born. Abortion plays into that, for sure.
With Foxcon and other businesses, Governor Walker is looking for nearly $7 million to woo people from other states to Wisconsin to work. He’s admitted we don’t have a workforce robust enough to meet the demands. How ironic. We have jobs now but we don’t have people. Abortion has impacted that for sure, since the oldest of the people we’ve lost to abortion would now be 45—in the prime work years. It’s hard to find workers when you don’t have people. Imagine the work force we have eliminated.
I recently heard an official with the Wisconsin Association of School Boards say over 60% of the state’s public school districts have declining enrollments. It’s hard to fill desks in schools when you don’t have people. Abortion has taken its toll. Imagine the creative genuius we have lost to this grisly procedure.
On the positive side of all this, abortion numbers nationally and in most states, ours included, keep going down. The number of abortion facilities has dropped pretty dramatically. The younger generations are appearing to be more pro-life than the older generations. All of this is good, very good. However, until the scourge of legalized abortion is over in our land, we need to keep working—hard—every day to make sure people understand the realities of abortion. The most important reality is these were real people, real human beings, with real potential—lots of potential. These are not lots of potential people.
For Wisconsin Family Council, this is Julaine Appling reminding you the Prophet Hosea said, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”
[1] https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/publications/p45360-16.pdf
