Pro-Abortion Groups Drop “Rare” From Their Talking Points

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In years past, pro-abortion groups said abortion ought to be “safe, legal, and rare.”

Today, however, abortion’s supporters seem to be leaving that last word — rare — out of their talking points.

Last week Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes Arkansas tweeted, “The vast majority of Americans believe that abortion should remain safe and legal, and we’re doing everything we can to keep it that way.”

There are a few problems with Planned Parenthood’s message — like the fact that most Americans actually believe abortion ought to be either completely illegal or legal only in certain circumstances, and the fact that many of those who do believe abortion should be available to some extent also believe abortion should be illegal after the first trimester of pregnancy.

All of that aside, it’s telling that Planned Parenthood doesn’t say abortion ought to be rare.

The same is true of the Arkansas Coalition for Reproductive Justice.

The group recently hosted a pro-abortion rally on the steps of the Capitol Building in Little Rock.

On the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, ACRJ posted a statement saying, “Today we celebrate our legal right to abortion and recommit ourselves to fighting to keep abortion safe, legal and accessible.”

Here are a couple of points to consider:

First, abortion is never safe. It certainly isn’t safe for the unborn baby who is killed, but it also isn’t safe for the woman on whom the abortion is performed.

Abortion carries a number of risks and consequences. We are reminded of that fact every time an ambulance is dispatched to Arkansas’ abortion facilities.

That’s one reason why Arkansas has one of the strongest informed-consent laws for abortion in America.

Informed-consent laws ensure women receive all the facts about abortion and about the alternatives that exist to abortion.

Second, there’s nothing to celebrate when it comes to abortion. In the past even those who supported abortion argued it still ought to remain rare. Today that isn’t the case. Celebrating and trivializing abortion the way some groups do would have been unheard of even a decade ago.

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Pro-Life Award Honors Memory of Arkansas Baby Killed in Abortion

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On Monday evening, Family Council staff members attended the Bow Ties for Babies event sponsored by our friends at Arkansas Right to Life.

Pro-life leaders, volunteers, and elected officials came from all over Arkansas to attend the event.

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee gave an excellent keynote address discussing the history of the pro-life movement in Arkansas — and how difficult it used to be to pass pro-life laws.

Arkansas Right to Life President Andy Mayberry honored Family Council with the Mary Rose Doe Award in recognition of 30 years of pro-life work in the state.

Receiving the award is a tremendous honor.

Over the years, the Mary Rose Doe Award has been given to pro-life leaders who have done some amazing work in Arkansas — including Governor Huckabee, Governor Hutchinson, the late Dr. Fay Boozman, and Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, just to name a few.

But many Arkansans today don’t know who Mary Rose Doe was — and why Arkansas Right to Life named a pro-life award after her.

Mary Rose Doe was an unborn baby who was found dead in drainage ditch in Little Rock on April 28, 1983.

At approximately 28 weeks gestation, she weighed 5 pounds with brown eyes and auburn hair.

Authorities determined Mary had been aborted and then subsequently abandoned in the drainage ditch.

Some have speculated that she may have been the victim of a botched abortion — and that she might even have survived for some time after the abortion.

After performing an autopsy, the medical examiner at the State Crime Lab called Mary “a perfect little bud that was clipped before she could blossom.”

The North Pulaski Right to Life chapter of Arkansas Right to Life gave Mary Rose Doe her name and arranged for her have a Christian burial.

Above: The headstone at the plot in Calvary Cemetery, where Mary is buried.

The Catholic Diocese in Little Rock provided a grave plot for Mary at Calvary Cemetery, and North Little Rock Funeral Home donated the casket. As many as 200 people attended her burial.

Mary Rose Doe’s death highlighted the grisly nature of abortion and helped galvanize pro-lifers in Arkansas.

Today a monument at Calvary Cemetery in Little Rock marks the spot where Mary is buried and serves as a memorial to all the children killed in abortion.

The Mary Rose Doe Award commemorates Mary’s brief existence that touched so many lives in Arkansas.

Read more about Baby Mary Rose Doe here and here.

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