NOTE: This article is one of a series on the “top ten” accomplishments of the pro-life movement over the past 40 years since unborn children were stripped of their legal right to life by the 1973 Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton Supreme Court rulings.
On January 22, 1973, the United States Supreme Court handed down the infamous Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton rulings that stripped unborn babies their legal right to life in all 50 states. Though there was a measure of pro-life activism taking place before
What has that movement accomplished over the past 40 years? Some would say very little. After all the protests and demonstrations, legislative initiatives and elections, prayer vigils and education campaigns, abortionists are still killing over a million unborn babies every year. The chances of Roe and Doe being overturned seem as remote as ever, especially after last November’s national election.
But such a pessimistic view overlooks two significant factors. First, we must ask how things might have looked today if the pro-life movement had not been so hard at work since 1973. Secondly, we have to consider the real impact that the pro-life movement has had on people’s lives over all those years—especially the children and adults who are alive today because of something a pro-life activist said or did.
In fact, the pro-life movement has accomplished a great deal over the past 40 years, as the Pro-Life Action League will show in a special series, Top Ten Accomplishments of the Pro-Life Movement, 1973-2013. Daily installments will run here in the days leading up to the January 22 anniversary.
Follow this series for some valuable perspective on all the good pro-life movement has done since 1973. For it is upon these accomplishments that we must build upon if we are to restore legal protection of the lives of unborn children before another 40 years passes.
Find the complete countdown of the Top Ten Accomplishments of the Pro-Life Movement here.
