A 2007 Missouri law required abortion mills to make provisions to handle the negative side effects from abortion. They were told to widen their doorways and hallways for emergencies. They were required to have the proper medical equipment to deal with the complications associated with abortion. Pro-abortionists balked at the idea.

In 1996, Rosa Acuna suffered severe complications from an abortion. Today she suffers emotional distress from the death of her child. In a case argued before the New Jersey Supreme Court, she stated that “she could not give informed consent because the doctor did not tell her of ‘the scientific and medical fact that (her 6 to 8-week old embryo) was a complete, separate, unique and irreplaceable human being and that an abortion would result in ‘killing an existing human being’ ” (Jeffrey Gold, “Court won't ask when life begins,” The Star Ledger, September 13, 2007).

In 1981, a United States Senate Judiciary Subcommittee invited experts to testify on the question of when life begins. Dr. Hymie Gordon of the Mayo Clinic testified that “by all criteria of modern molecular biology, life is present from the moment of conception." Dr. Micheline Matthews-Roth of Harvard University Medical School said, "It is scientifically correct to say that an individual human life begins at conception." From the very first moment of conception, there is a new individual, a new human being.

Life begins at conception. All that is necessary for the full development of the person is already present at that moment. It is life. It is human. From that moment, a child is present who develops first in the womb and then, after birth, outside the womb. This human life certainly will change and become more independent and, if life is prolonged or illness intervenes, dependent again. Yet, from the first moment of conception to the individual’s 100th birthday, all of the characteristics of that person are already present from the beginning.

Since Roe v. Wade, more children have died from abortions than Americans killed in the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, World Wars I and II, the Korean, Vietnam and Gulf Wars combined. At a Planned Parenthood clinic, a first-trimester surgical abortion takes about two minutes. Fifteen minutes later, the woman is sent home. In fact, in the legalized abortion industry of this country, the father does not exist at all. One study reports that the Planned Parenthood Federation of America has killed 264,943 innocent Americans by abortion in just one year. To make matters worse, our government gave $305.3 million from our taxes to support them! (cf. Anita Crane, The Perils and Pitfalls of Abortion Rhetoric, September 6, 2007).

In a 5-0 decision on September 12, 2007, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that a doctor does not have to tell a woman that she is bearing a child within her before performing an abortion. New Jersey Justice Barry T. Albin argued that, "On the profound issue of when life begins, this court cannot drive public policy in one particular direction by the engine of the common law when the opposing sides, which represent so many of our citizens, are arrayed along a deep societal and philosophical divide."

The New Jersey Supreme Court has failed us. It has struck a blow against women’s rights. It now allows doctors to keep from them the proper information needed to act responsibly. Their right to the truth has been sacrificed on the altar of political correctness. Their freedom, diminished. By one stroke of the pen, The New Jersey Supreme Court has banished common sense from the discussion of the most fundamental human right, the right to life itself.

From the first moment of life, the child waiting to be born in the womb is not a tissue or organ belonging to the mother to be disposed of at will. It is a person. Why is the truth not told? Political correctness? Powerful lobbying? Industry profits? Certainly not for the welfare of the child and the good of society!