In April this year, Governor Doug Burgum of North Dakota signed a bill protecting babies from week six of gestation – the point at which a heartbeat can be detected. Since the landmark ruling of the US Supreme Court, this is the 13th state to introduce strict safeguards to protect the unborn. #WeCount, an enterprise of the pro-abortion Society of Family Planning, found a decline in the number of abortions in each month from July to December compared to the April 2022 baseline figure. The documented national abortion rate declined from 13.2 per 1,000 women to 12.3 per 1,000 women over the same comparable period. However, while the number of abortions decreased overall, the report noted that chemical abortions, where women take pills at home prescribed by virtual telemedicine providers, increased 137% from April to December 2022. The researchers calculated the final figures based on statistics submitted by clinics responsible for about 83% of all abortions performed in the United States.
Mississippi’s governor, Tate Reeves, also signed eight pro-life measures, including a law that will increase the tax credit for anti-abortion clinics and pregnancy resource centers from $3.5 million to $10 million, another that will create a state website with information on how to find pro-life resources, and also a so-called baby drop-off law which will extend the time within which a mother can deliver her child to a “safe haven” for adoption. In response to the news, Caitlin Connors, southern regional director of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said, “It’s amazing to see how much land Mississippi has covered over the course of a year to protect the unborn.”
In March, Florida lawmakers approved a bill to ban abortion once the baby’s heartbeat is detected (6 weeks). All indications are that in this 2023, abortions will decline further provided that Republicans keep their pro-life pledges and do not turn unfaithful, as they did recently in Nebraska and North Carolina where measures that would have severely restricted abortion were voted down precisely because the ‘Republican’ majority voted against the right to life of the unborn and sided with pro-abortion Democrats. Republicans must make a clear-cut choice in favor of the right and dignity of unborn life, while Democrats remain the abortionists’ true and only allies.