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2007 Fall Rally for LifeTo the Editor:It has been nearly 35 years since the U.S. Supreme Court threw out all state laws against abortion, deciding that those not yet born are unworthy of equal protection under the law as required by the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. The fact that Martin Luther King Day falls so close to the anniversary of Roe v. Wade each year is a sad irony, as basic human rights are not extended to the most defenseless of our people. While we have made great progress in extending civil rights to racial minorities, we have taken civil rights away from the unborn. Since that infamous decision by the Supreme Court, there have been an estimated 50 million unborn children killed under the protection of law. (See statistics from the Guttmacher Institute.) In 2005, there were 676 abortions in Monroe County, according to the Indiana State Department of Health. That is an average of 12.6 abortions every week. Many people do not even realize that the Planned Parenthood “clinic” on South College Avenue performs abortions. Bloomington’s Planned Parenthood saw a 38 percent increase in abortions from 1995 to 2001 while abortion rates were declining nationally. Faced with such tragic numbers, what can we do to stand for the defenseless lives snuffed out just a few blocks from the Indiana University campus? There will be a Fall Rally for Life on Sunday, September 16, at 2:00 P.M. on the Monroe County Courthouse lawn. I encourage anyone who wishes to see every innocent life valued and protected to come to the Rally for Life and serve as a voice for those who cannot speak for themselves. Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say, “But we knew nothing about this,” does not He who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not He who guards your life know it? Will He not repay each person according to what he has done?” - Proverbs 24:11-12 Scott Tibbs |