More Than a Number

By Raimundo Rojas
NRLC Hispanic Outreach Coordinator

Polls, studies, numbers, percentages, party affiliation, surveys - - these are the buzz words we hear as the rapid growth of Hispanics in the United States is analyzed and discussed. Political parties and candidates use this information in an attempt to "shore up the Hispanic vote" on behalf of their candidacies.

We in the right to life movement know that the Hispanic community is intuitively and culturally pro-life. One of the tasks of pro-life citizens is to educate Hispanics about the stands of candidates on abortion.

Pro-abortionists try to hide behind variations of the mantra, "Who Decides?" Pro-lifers know the real question is, "What does abortion do to unborn children and their mothers?"

That is why we never, ever forget the carnage - - the actual lives lost and hearts broken. Randall O'Bannon, Ph.D., director of education and research for the National Right to Life Trust Fund, writes: "While the specter of abortion has penetrated all levels of our society, no group has been more devastated by abortion than minorities."

To underscore his statement he goes on to explain that the most recent figures available tell us that although Hispanic women make up only 12.8% of women of child-bearing age in this country, they account for over 20% of abortions. That doesn't mean Hispanic women are less pro-life or less respectful of life than non-Latin women.

What it does show is that the pro-abortion mindset in this country makes it that much easier for them to do something that goes against their values and their culture: have abortions. As such, we must do all we can to educate Hispanics in general that a living human being is destroyed when an abortion is performed.

Several years ago I appeared on a Spanish language show. The Hispanic media for the most part doesn't pretend to be as squeamish as the American media when it comes to showing pictures of developing babies and children that have been destroyed by abortion.

During the show I was discussing fetal development and I had with me a picture of an eight-week-old developing baby. As I spoke about organ systems and heartbeat I slowly lifted the pictures just below my chin and the camera never left me. For nearly 45 seconds that picture was up on the television screen. The show taped on a weekday and it aired on Sunday night.

The following Sunday I was gathered with friends at a relative's home to watch the hour-long debate. When it came to the part of the program where I held up the picture of the eight-week-old child, a neighbor I've known since childhood stood up and went to the kitchen.

She didn't return for the remainder of the show. After the broadcast she called me out onto the patio. With tears flowing down her cheeks she confessed her abortion to me, saying that she just "had no idea."

I know that many non-Hispanic women have said the same thing, but in the Latin community discussion about abortion is just something that doesn't happen often. Add to that the overwhelming pressure of a pro-abortion industry that has targeted Hispanics, and our educational efforts become doubly important.

We must do everything we can to save Hispanic women and their babies from the carnage. National Right to Life and Hispanic Americans for Life want nothing more than to help pro-lifers all over the country do that. And the first step will be the most difficult. It is the getting out there and doing what needs to be done. It's taking those first, crucially important steps.

It's giving a slide presentation at a youth group or handing out bilingual or Spanish brochures at a fair booth. It's giving a fetal development talk at a predominately Hispanic school or providing Spanish bulletin inserts into your church's program. It's having Spanish language materials at your state and local offices. It's finding someone in your community who is bilingual and who is willing to take on the task. It's just taking that first step.

A small effort made in a growing community can make a huge difference. A brave step into uncharted territories can save a life.

The pro-abortionists have no qualms about promulgating their message of death - - the sick notion that the best thing a Hispanic woman can do for her family is to have its youngest member destroyed. On a very personal level, I know the pro-abortion message is a lie.

What would the abortion mindset that Dr. O'Bannon speaks about say to the following family?

A young immigrant couple recently arrived in the United States finds themselves living in a small apartment. The couple has two young sons, no one speaks English, the father works three jobs, and they are barely making it.

They've been in this country for a little over a year when the mother finds that she is pregnant with her third child. We know what would be the message to her from the peddlers of abortion - - despair, hopelessness, and a bloody life-ending.

That wasn't some hypothetical family. That family was mine. And of all the things I'm grateful to my parents for, my youngest brother Rick is one of them.

In the midst of what some would call poverty, another life came forth. Today he's my best friend, the funniest man I know, the father of two himself, and a successful businessman.

He was neither a number nor a statistic. He was one child, one baby. And that is what we are about - - saving children, one at a time, until the day comes when all are welcomed in the human community

Mr. Rojas can be reached at hal@nrlc.org or by calling 202-378-8857.