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

Abortion, , ,

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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College Students Rehash Outdated Arguments On Sex-Education

Current Events

Earlier this week the University of Arkansas’ Arkansas Traveler published an article about sex-education in the state.

The article quoted college students who feel Arkansas should stop promoting abstinence sex-education and instead mandate comprehensive sex-education in its public schools.

One person quoted in the article said the state’s position on sex-education is “archaic” and “fueled by misinformation.”

Here’s the truth about sex-education in Arkansas:

Policymakers in Arkansas worked to implement comprehensive sex-education in the 1980s and 1990s.

These programs focused on teaching public school students about contraceptive use.

During that time, Arkansas’ teen birth rate remained high, and teenagers were among those most likely to have an abortion.

In 1997 the state switched strategies, promoting abstinence-based sex-education in public schools. The results were nothing short of staggering.

Teen birth rates and teen abortion rates in Arkansas plummeted.

From 1997 to 2003, the teen abortion rate fell by approximately 37%, and the teen birth rate fell by 16%.

The program was so successful that it garnered national attention from other states.

In 2016 the federal Center for Disease Control released a 200-page report on sexual health among students.

The report indicated that not only does abstinence education work — it positively affects every area of a student’s life.

The CDC writes, “High school students who are virgins rate significantly and consistently better in nearly all health-related behaviors and measures than their sexually active peers.”

According to the CDC report, students who are abstinent are healthier by virtually every measurement — from bike helmet and seat belt use to substance abuse, diet, doctor’s visits, exercise — even tanning bed use.

Bottom line: If any notion about sex-education is “archaic” and “fueled by misinformation,” it’s the idea that comprehensive sex-education in our public schools will somehow be good for students.

Photo Credit: RebelAt at English Wikipedia [CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)]

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