Texas has become the latest state to sign what's become known as the Heartbeat Law, which essentially criminalizes abortion once the baby's heartbeat is detected.  This is obviously a great win for pro-life advocates, but more importantly for the countless babies who will have a chance at life and the many mothers saved from the grief and regret of a lost child.

The CDC's latest metrics on abortion, compiled from 2018, reported that 619,591 babies were aborted.  (State reporting of abortion data to the CDC is voluntary, and a number of them don't report, including highly populated ones like Maryland and California.)  This number dropped slightly from 2009, when 789,217 babies were aborted.  Consider that over the course of a decade (2009–2018), nearly seven million babies were aborted in this country.  This is a national disgrace.

Seven million lives!  Babies who were never asked if they wanted to live, if they wanted to take their first steps, graduate from high school, or start a family.  Seven million lives that could have added to our national fabric, been productive citizens, trade workers, teachers, scholars, or artists.  But they never had a chance.

Abortion remains a divisive topic, especially among radical progressives who think the feelings and desires of the mother outweigh the life growing and living within them.  The people who champion the need to save the polar bears, rare frogs, and ancient trees are the same people who have made human fetuses disposable.  The hypocrisy is glaringly obvious.  Yet this sentiment may be losing traction as more people are beginning to see through the charade of "women's health" as a reason for legalized abortion.

Thankfully, leaders with a strong moral foundation don't consider abortion up for debate.  It shouldn't be a political argument — we're talking about lives, not debating tax rates.  Governor Abbott of Texas and others exhibit this type of courageous leadership, affirming their stance to preserve the sanctity of life.  Our political leaders across the land should do the same.

Unfortunately, Planned Parenthood and other abortion facilities are in a race to influence young expectant mothers by giving them easy options for abortion.  Fortunately, there are people like my sister-in-law who fight back, providing guidance and direction to young women about all their options.  She and several other women are counselors at our local crisis pregnancy clinic.  They fight every day against the influence of abortion advocates by educating expectant mothers about options other than abortion.

One option young mothers should consider is adoption.  There are so many parents across the nation who can't have children and would do just about anything to have a child of their own.  Perhaps, had those seven million babies been born, they would have received a warm and loving family to adopt and care for them.  This requires adoption laws that support families first, not adoption firms or state coffers.

Furthermore, the pain of losing a child even intentionally may weigh heavily upon a mother's mind.  Anecdotally, I've heard stories of mothers who regret their decision to abort their babies for the rest of their lives.  This is an area where more research should be conducted.  As a society, we should understand the long-term psychological impacts on mothers following an abortion.  This is almost a facetious statement, considering that regardless of how the mother might feel, we know perfectly well the long-term implications for the baby: death.

Ultimately, that's what pro-choicers gloss over: that a baby will be killed.  It's not a cyst or cancerous lump of tissue to be cut out and discarded; it is a living human.  It is a baby, wholly dependent upon his mother for the love and nurturing he needs.

Despite the victory in Texas, we must continue to mourn the babies aborted every day.  We must remember that it is God who creates and breathes life into each of us.  So who are we to play God and choose life or death?  Rather, our society must fight to preserve life at any cost.

Image: D. Garding via Flickr, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

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