After over three decades of abortion on demand and the loss of more than 40 million children, what have we gained? In the 1970’s, abortion advocates predicted abortion rights would lead to the liberation of women, healthier marriages and families and a world where every child is wanted; families and society in general would be better off. We now know the exact opposite was true – as we demeaned the value of the unborn, we consequently lowered the value of the living. Child abuse skyrocketed, as did divorce, illegitimacy and child poverty, as more and more families were destroyed.

Increasingly, evidence is indicating that women experience negative physical and psychological effects due to abortion. Women who abort may be at increased risk of a variety of negative health problems including breast cancer, uterine perforation, ectopic pregnancy, sub fertility, placenta previa, and pelvic inflammatory disease. Post-abortion syndrome (PAS) has now been diagnosed as a powerful and devastating medical condition involving intense feelings of guilt, loss, and depression experienced even years after an abortion.

In his letter to the Colossians, the Apostle Paul warned his contemporaries to be wary of “fine-sounding arguments;” to avoid being taken in by “hollow and deceptive philosophies of human tradition.” Can you think of any greater “hollow and deceptive philosophy” than that which tells a woman to destroy the child growing in her womb – that her life will somehow be better through this modern day form of human sacrifice?

There is no more horrific example of our fleckless disrespect for basic human dignity than the barbaric practice of partial-birth abortion. How can we consider ourselves a “civilized society” when fully developed children are killed just seconds before taking their first breath when an abortionist punctures their skull with a pair of scissors?

The “big lie” of the pro-abortion lobby is that partial-birth abortion is rarely done and only in medical emergencies. In some cases, the procedure can take days to perform, rendering the “emergency” excuse laughable.

The American Medical Association (AMA) has endorsed efforts to ban partial-birth abortion because, according to the AMA, the procedure “is not good medicine.” Former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. C. Everett Koop has stated that “partial-birth abortion is never medically necessary to protect a mother's health or her future fertility. On the contrary, this procedure can pose a significant threat to both.”

As Rep. Henry Hyde has eloquently noted, we would never euthanize animals in such a barbaric fashion, yet we do this to our children in the name of "choice,” for the sake of convenience.

This is where the slippery slope of abortion has taken us. If it’s okay to eliminate "inconveniences" in the first weeks of pregnancy, why not in the ninth month or even after birth? If life is not sacred and worthy of legal protection, then it is okay to exploit it for research.

Today, our teenage daughters throw their own babies in trashcans, as if they have no more value than a used Styrofoam cup. Professors debate whether or not it is ethical to kill disable children two or three months old -- just as Hitler tried to weed out the "undesirables" with “mercy deaths.”

Even worse, in 1999 two researchers attempted to argue that crime rates fell in the late 1990s thanks to abortion. Just consider what proactive recommendations social engineers like Dr. Peter Singer might propose from such conclusions: the forced sterilization of certain classes of individuals who might breed potential criminals?

In light of the moral, scientific, and empirical evidence, American Values believes we should protect and defend all unborn children. From any perspective abortion is wrong. We need to protect life at the grass roots level and through legislation, educate the public and our elected officials and offer women positive solutions to unplanned pregnancies.