The abortion industry recently has suffered a series of legal and legislative setbacks. From mandatory ultrasounds to fetal pain bills to entirely reasonable clinic health and safety regulations, the womb is a bit less unsafe for thousands of unborn children. Here are summaries of some recent wins for life and human dignity:

• According to one review, “at least 24 Planned Parenthood sites have closed so far in 2013. This number includes 3 surgical abortion clinics, 3 clinics that dispensed abortion pills, and 19 offices that referred for abortions.”
• The pro-abortion-on-demand Guttmacher Institute reports that during “the first six months of 2013, states enacted 106 provisions related to reproductive health and rights; issues related to abortion, family planning funding and sex education were significant flashpoints in several legislatures”.
• “The North Carolina Department of Health has suspended the license of Femcare, an abortion clinic in Asheville. That marks the 42nd abortion clinic to close so far this year, eclipsing the 24 that closed during all of 2012.”

The closures of dozens of abortion clinics nationwide means that more persons bearing God’s image will enjoy the warmth of a mother’s embrace. The value of the person is not determined by a cost-benefit analysis but by the decision of her eternal Creator to give her the gift of life. Thus, the economic consequences of abortion are of vastly less importance than the evil of abortion itself, both to the unborn and their mothers. Yet it is undeniable that abortion has contributed materially to the weakening of the U.S. economy. It’s not very often that we can rejoice at the growing demise of an industry or the closure of job-producing businesses, but if there were ever reasons – both moral and economic – for such rejoicing, here they are.

© 2012 Family Research Council