40th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade
By Rep. Lynn Westmoreland
January 22, 2013
Today is the 40th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision on one of our most controversial cases in American history, Roe v. Wade. In 1973, the Supreme Court ruled it was unconstitutional for a state to ban abortions- except to save the life of the mother- and that states could only enact abortion regulations that affected the mother’s health in the second and third trimester.
Well, I believe that life begins at conception and have always supported legislation that would ban abortions in this country, as well as protecting the taxpayer from paying for abortion-related costs that they morally object to. In fact, I'm not alone in this. Our country is becoming more and more pro-life. In 1995, only 33 percent of this country was pro-life. As of May of this year,according to a Gallup poll, 50 percent of Americans consider themselves pro-life. Some of this movement is due to the fact that science has finally started catching up with what the Bible has always taught us – life really does begin at conception.
I am a husband, father, and grandfather and I don’t know what I would do without my family. I am so blessed that they are all healthy and happy, and I will fight for every unborn child to have that opportunity. I will continue to stand for pro-life and family values, and support efforts for the pro-life community to educate people about life in the womb. I hope that this tragic anniversary is a reminder to everyone that all life is precious, and that we must join together to be a voice for those in the womb who can’t speak for themselves.