January 7, 2011

Please send me your comments!

By Dave Andrusko

Good evening and thanks for being part of the discussion as we wrap up another week. Part Two is the statement issued by Archbishop Timothy Dolan at a news conference yesterday lamenting the huge number of abortions in New York City. Part Three represents the opposite end--great news about the "Year of the Pro-Life Teen." Over at National Right to Life News Today (www.nationalrighttolifenews.org), David Prentice writes about another study showing how medically dangerous (not to mention ethically wrong) it is to harvest human embryos for their stem cells. I also write about a new book that deals with Obama's "philosophy." I also include a letter NRLC sent to Members of Congress asking them to vote to repeal ObamaCare. All good stuff! Please send your comments on Today's News & Views and National Right to Life News Today to daveandrusko@gmail.com. If you like, join those who are following me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/daveha. Have a great weekend!

Without fanfare, last week the New York City Department of Health released a report that found an incredible number of abortions in 2009. A whopping 39% of all pregnancies were aborted--with the figures much, much higher for African- American women.

Yesterday, under the auspices of the Chiaroscuro Foundation, which is dedicated to finding alternatives to killing unborn babies, Christian and Jewish leaders came together at a press conference to shine the light on this American tragedy.

"For the first time in my happy twenty-one months as a New Yorker, I am embarrassed to be a member of a cherished community I now -- -- usually with a lot of pride -- -- call home," said Archbishop Timothy Dolan. That "the percentage [is] even higher in the Bronx and among our African-American babies in the womb is downright chilling."

In 2009, there were 225,667 pregnancies in New York City. 126,774 resulted in live births and 87,273 were aborted. (There were also 11,620 "spontaneous terminations"--what we usually call spontaneous abortions.) Put another way that is seven abortions for every 10 live births.

African-American women had the highest number of abortions--40,798. Among Black women abortions out-number live births by three to two.

The second highest number of abortions was among Hispanic women--28,364. Among non-Hispanic white women, there were 9,853 abortions. Among Asian women the number was 5,212.

In his remarks (see part two), Archbishop Dolan reaffirmed the pledge Cardinal John O'Connor made a quarter century ago--that "Any woman who is pregnant and in need can come to the Church and we will help you." He added, "[W]e have done our best to keep that promise, ... and these haunting statistics only prod us to keep at it."

The Chiaroscuro Foundation pledged that it will spend $1 million in 2011.

Beyond the sheer horror over the prevalence of abortion, there were other remarkable aspects.

For example, according to New York Post columnist John Wilson, of the 51 City Council members, only five were willing to call that abortion rate "too high."

In Wilson's column, we read,

"I don't think those numbers are meaningful," said Upper East Side Councilwoman Jessica Lappin. "I don't tell people whether they should have two kids, four kids or 10 kids." One council aide even fretted that a lower abortion rate would bankrupt the city.
New York State was among the very earliest states, prior even to Roe v. Wade, to adopt a policy of virtually abortion on demand. Even though discussion of abortion is "taboo," according to Wilson, he writes that a "2005 Quinnipiac survey found that 70 percent of state voters favored toughening the state's abortion law with a parental-notification requirement, and 64 percent backed mandatory waiting periods. Open discussion about the actual occurrence of abortion would only push those numbers higher."

If you go online (http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/vs/2009sum.pdf) and read the report from the Bureau of Vital Statistics, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, you find a "Mortality Overview" page. The final category is "Years of Potential Life Lost"--defined as "Years of Life lost due to premature deaths before a defined cutoff age" (New York City uses 75 years).

I need not belabor the obvious. What would the Years of Potential Life Lost be if we counted all those poor babies whose lives were cut tragically short?

Finally, the report's opening page features a graph that provides a broad overview of vital statistics for the city going back to 1800. Ironic, is it not, that the logo, or motto, reads, "The Conquest of Pestilence in New York City…"?

How tragic that there has been so little success in ending the "pestilence" of abortion.

Part Two
Part Three