The legacy of Roe vs. Wade

                                                                                                                      Vol. XII, No. 2, February 1999

The American Civil Liberties Union hailed the Supreme Court's 1973 decision in Roe vs. Wade as an "important step in the right direction". The facts tell a different story. Our society has gone a long way in the wrong direction during the last 25 years. The numbers reveal that America has become coarser and less disciplined, that respect for the rights of others, especially women and children, has plummeted, and that sexual libertinism has skyrocketed.

** Murders of children less than one week old increased by 92% between 1973 and 1996.

** The percentage of births to unmarried women more than quadrupled between 1972 and 1996.

** The number of children living in poverty rose by 43% between 1970 and 1996.

** Reported cases of child abuse and neglect rose by a factor of more than 17 between 1973 and 1994.

** The rape rate nearly tripled between 1970 and 1994.

** The number of murders rose by 22.4%, and

** The percentage of murders committed by children under 18 nearly doubled between 1977 and 1994.

[From the November-December Light magazine of the SBC Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission and the January ‘99 issue of The Matoaca Mssenger.]