We lost around 50 million people to abortion worldwide last year. Around 125,000 people lost their lives every day before they ever really had a chance to begin.
In America, we lost around 862,320 humans to abortion last year. That was 3,000 people every single day. 125 people every hour.
The sheer magnitude of the numbers can make one feel numb and distant to its reality. It is not like we walk outside our doors and have to deal with the dead bodies. We need to remember those numbers represent individual people who are not here to experience life.
We have a moral duty to respond to this injustice which has taken millions of lives and continues to kill thousands of little preborn humans every day. Millions of people will never get to experience life, all its ups and downs, and all the beautiful and sweet things the Lord places throughout our time here. Instead, they get the cold instruments of death that snuff out their existence and deprive them of their life before they have a chance to live it. They will never get to experience the warm embrace of a friend, never see the sunset, never know community and encouragement, and never see sacrificial love in another human being.
The impulse we have as humans to help others in need has been successfully stifled in most people when it comes to abortion. When we see an infant injured, crying and in need of assistance, a natural human response is to help, heal, and comfort that child. This impulse needs to be revived and placed on the preborn as well. The infant we would readily help outside the womb is the same human being in the womb; she is just younger and more defenseless. Those differences in size, level of development, environment, and the degree of dependency do not justify killing an innocent human being.
Prior to the mass slaughter of a group of people, a dehumanization must take place to enable and justify the killing. The abortion industry and its proponents have been quite effective in using language to dehumanize the preborn. A deadening of the conscience is crucial before fellow humans can act so callously towards others.
Injustices are consistently defended as moral goods by those who perpetuate the evil. Abortion is associated with women’s rights, women’s health, bodily autonomy, freedom and equality. Abortion is the opposite of those things. Women’s rights, health, bodily autonomy, freedom, and equality do not depend on her having the ability to kill her preborn child.
A child residing in the womb is precisely where she is supposed to be. The natural and positive relationship a preborn child has with her mother has been vilified so when a woman is not completely ready for a child, her offspring becomes seen as something to get rid of, and our culture applauds this.
Abortion affects everyone in some way. For some, this is a deeply personal experience. For others, the recognition of the destruction and heartbreak abortion brings compels some who have not had an abortion to help and speak out for both the woman and child. Abortion is exploitation. It is violent. It is harmful and destructive.
Abortion is a brutal and violent act. It is an injustice all of us must deal with in some way. So many women and men are affected by it. We walk past post-abortive women and men every day. The manner in which we discuss abortion is crucial. Our tone should never be one of condemnation and shame. We are called to love people, to be compassionate, patient, and kind in a world that is dark and difficult. Our voices should be ones which point to forgiveness and hope found only in Jesus Christ.
No matter where you are in life, we all have a unique circle of influence which we are called to steward wisely. Every person you come into contact with matters. Those interactions are not accidents.
And those little humans we will never get to meet in this life matter, too. Their short lives only experienced the worst part of the world where people exploit and murder each other to get what they want. Their short life inherently possessed value and dignity which should have been treasured and loved; not torn apart and thrown in the garbage.
Human life is becoming increasingly cheap as assisted suicide also makes advances across the world and across America. If we do not take a stand and fight for the dignity and worth in every person, we will soon wake up to a world where no one is safe. Do not fool yourselves. Your life may not be in jeopardy now, but it is only a matter of time before the consequences of the abortion and assisted suicide ideologies begin to corrode the meaning of our lives, as well. If life is expendable in the beginning and at the end, what makes you think the middle is safe?
This new year, may we all be more intentional about loving people and speaking out against the evil of abortion and assisted suicide. May this year find us busy defending human life and fighting for the dignity and value inherent in every human life from conception to natural death.
Rebekah is a Training Specialist with Justice For All. You can follow her work at jfaweb.org/rebekah-dyer
Another Year, Another 50 Million Missing
Rebekah Dyer
A Pro-Life Guide to the 2024 Presidential Republican Candidates
New Texas Ordinances Seek to Ban Abortion Trafficking
Why The Pro-life Movement Should Switch Parties
An Overview of Infant Safe Haven Laws
A Young Woman’s Bodily Autonomy Gets Violated: How Pro-Choice Feminists Should React to the story of Alexis Avila
We lost around 50 million people to abortion worldwide last year. Around 125,000 people lost their lives every day before they ever really had a chance to begin.
In America, we lost around 862,320 humans to abortion last year. That was 3,000 people every single day. 125 people every hour.
The sheer magnitude of the numbers can make one feel numb and distant to its reality. It is not like we walk outside our doors and have to deal with the dead bodies. We need to remember those numbers represent individual people who are not here to experience life.
We have a moral duty to respond to this injustice which has taken millions of lives and continues to kill thousands of little preborn humans every day. Millions of people will never get to experience life, all its ups and downs, and all the beautiful and sweet things the Lord places throughout our time here. Instead, they get the cold instruments of death that snuff out their existence and deprive them of their life before they have a chance to live it. They will never get to experience the warm embrace of a friend, never see the sunset, never know community and encouragement, and never see sacrificial love in another human being.
The impulse we have as humans to help others in need has been successfully stifled in most people when it comes to abortion. When we see an infant injured, crying and in need of assistance, a natural human response is to help, heal, and comfort that child. This impulse needs to be revived and placed on the preborn as well. The infant we would readily help outside the womb is the same human being in the womb; she is just younger and more defenseless. Those differences in size, level of development, environment, and the degree of dependency do not justify killing an innocent human being.
Prior to the mass slaughter of a group of people, a dehumanization must take place to enable and justify the killing. The abortion industry and its proponents have been quite effective in using language to dehumanize the preborn. A deadening of the conscience is crucial before fellow humans can act so callously towards others.
Injustices are consistently defended as moral goods by those who perpetuate the evil. Abortion is associated with women’s rights, women’s health, bodily autonomy, freedom and equality. Abortion is the opposite of those things. Women’s rights, health, bodily autonomy, freedom, and equality do not depend on her having the ability to kill her preborn child.
A child residing in the womb is precisely where she is supposed to be. The natural and positive relationship a preborn child has with her mother has been vilified so when a woman is not completely ready for a child, her offspring becomes seen as something to get rid of, and our culture applauds this.
Abortion affects everyone in some way. For some, this is a deeply personal experience. For others, the recognition of the destruction and heartbreak abortion brings compels some who have not had an abortion to help and speak out for both the woman and child. Abortion is exploitation. It is violent. It is harmful and destructive.
Abortion is a brutal and violent act. It is an injustice all of us must deal with in some way. So many women and men are affected by it. We walk past post-abortive women and men every day. The manner in which we discuss abortion is crucial. Our tone should never be one of condemnation and shame. We are called to love people, to be compassionate, patient, and kind in a world that is dark and difficult. Our voices should be ones which point to forgiveness and hope found only in Jesus Christ.
No matter where you are in life, we all have a unique circle of influence which we are called to steward wisely. Every person you come into contact with matters. Those interactions are not accidents.
And those little humans we will never get to meet in this life matter, too. Their short lives only experienced the worst part of the world where people exploit and murder each other to get what they want. Their short life inherently possessed value and dignity which should have been treasured and loved; not torn apart and thrown in the garbage.
Human life is becoming increasingly cheap as assisted suicide also makes advances across the world and across America. If we do not take a stand and fight for the dignity and worth in every person, we will soon wake up to a world where no one is safe. Do not fool yourselves. Your life may not be in jeopardy now, but it is only a matter of time before the consequences of the abortion and assisted suicide ideologies begin to corrode the meaning of our lives, as well. If life is expendable in the beginning and at the end, what makes you think the middle is safe?
This new year, may we all be more intentional about loving people and speaking out against the evil of abortion and assisted suicide. May this year find us busy defending human life and fighting for the dignity and value inherent in every human life from conception to natural death.
Rebekah Dyer
Rebekah is a Training Specialist with Justice For All. You can follow her work at jfaweb.org/rebekah-dyer
The views and opinions expressed in these articles are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Human Defense Initiative.
Rebekah Dyer
COMMENTARY
NATIONAL
INTERNATIONAL
A Pro-Life Guide to the 2024 Presidential Republican Candidates
New Texas Ordinances Seek to Ban Abortion Trafficking
Why The Pro-life Movement Should Switch Parties
An Overview of Infant Safe Haven Laws
A Young Woman’s Bodily Autonomy Gets Violated: How Pro-Choice Feminists Should React to the story of Alexis Avila
Mexico Supreme Court Decriminalizes Abortion, Pro-lifers Remain Dedicated