The annual number of abortions has declined in Pennsylvania,  bringing them to their lowest level ever recorded in the Commonwealth, according to figures released by the Pennsylvania Department of Health.

The figures show that, in 2016, 30,881 abortions occurred in the Keystone State, down about three percent from 31,818 the previous year.

“The decline in abortions is good news for Pennsylvania mothers and babies,” said Maria Gallagher, legislative director for the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation, an affiliate of National Right to Life. “Our protective laws, scientific advances such as 4D Ultrasounds, and pregnancy resource centers around the Commonwealth are contributing to this encouraging trend,”Gallagher added.

The Department of Health reports more than 80 percent of abortions in Pennsylvania occurred in four counties: Philadelphia (14,626), Allegheny (6,080), Northampton (3,042), and Dauphin (1,504). The figures indicate the largest contingent of women having abortions were in the age range of 20 to 24 years.

Abortion totals in Pennsylvania would be much higher were it not for the vast number of pregnancy resource centers around the state. “The caring, compassionate individuals within these centers offer everything from diapers to day care referrals, from mentoring to maternity clothes to women and their families,” Gallagher said. “These pregnancy centers are truly a lifeline for women facing challenging circumstances.”

“Make no mistake—every single abortion is a tragedy, because it is the taking of an innocent, unrepeatable human life. Yet, Pennsylvanians can take great pride in the decline in abortions, which has been aided by the loving alternatives to abortion that exist in the Commonwealth,” Gallagher added.

A recent article in the Worcester county Maryland paper The Dispatch titled “Battle Waged to Save Trapped Cat from Euthanasia; National Group Sparks Letter Writing Campaign to Elected Officials” caught my eye.   The article is about a cat named Oliver, who was part of the colony cared for by the local Community Cats Coalition.  Oliver was trapped in the area, during an effort to rid the area of rabid animals, and now apparently awaits its fate with the county’s Animal Control Department.

Oliver may or may not be rabid, so last week a group called Alley Cat Allies interceded with a letter to the Worcester County Commissioners urging them to allow the Animal Control Department to turn Oliver over to the local Community Cats Coalition organization to quarantine the animal for as long as it takes to ensure it is not rabid at its own expense and effort. After getting little in the way of response from the commissioners, shelter staff or Animal Control Chief Susan Rantz, Alley Cat Allies on Tuesday reached out to its vast membership to intercede on Oliver’s behalf and, as a result, over 56,000 emails were reportedly sent to the Worcester County Commissioners.

Now, you may be asking why we’re talking about some random cat in Maryland, but my point is simple.  If a stray, potentially rabid cat can get 56,000 emails, how many more emails, calls, etc. should the pro-life movement be able to generate for pre-born babies, and other vulnerable humans?

The question is not meant to disparage the vast number of pro-life volunteers and staff who spend countless hours praying outside abortion centers, writing letters to the editor, helping pro-life pregnancy centers, or otherwise working to protect the most vulnerable among us.  Truly, these volunteers are on the front-line of the movement, and are its heart and soul.

Rather it is meant as a challenge to all of us.  If a cat can get that kind of response, we should be able to get an equal, if not greater, response for pre-born babies.  Surely the lives of pre-born babies are worth more than that of a cat (as much as I love cats).  We need to see this response for Oliver as a challenge to all of us…is there one more thing we can do to protect those who can’t speak for themselves?  Is it spending an extra hour per week praying at an abortion center?  Maybe it’s forwarding that “call to action” email we received to ten more people (after answering the call to action ourselves of course).  Perhaps it is that “thank you” call to your pro-life legislator after he or she votes the right way on an important bill.  Whatever it is, each of us needs to consider what that “one more thing” may be, and then put that plan into action.  A cat’s life doesn’t depend on it, but the life of a pre-born baby just might!!!

It is always interesting when the rhetoric of abortion advocates meets reality.

Consider the abortion rhetoric “her body, her choice”.  Abortion advocates use this rhetoric much as today’s teenagers use the word “like”—indiscriminately, and reflexively. Occasionally though, the fact that there is a second person impacted, when an abortion occurs hits home in a way that cannot be ignored.

Such was the case in Wellsboro PA recently when 25 year old Danielle Reddig was arrested and charged with multiple drug charges including drug delivery resulting in death and involuntary manslaughter.

The victim in this case was her pre-born son Collin, described as “a beautiful, handsome little guy” by deputy coroner James Daugherty.  Due to his mother’s repeated drug use while Collin was in the womb, Collin died a little more than an hour after he was born by emergency cesarean.  The autopsy lists Collin’s cause of death as maternal drug use.  Prosecutors note repeated positive tests for opiates, codeine, and morphine in Reddig’s pre-natal urine test, as evidence she used drugs throughout her pregnancy.

Now, if an unborn child is “just a bunch of cells” and not really a person, as abortion advocates try to pretend, shouldn’t Reddig have the “choice” to do whatever she wanted to her body without regard to her son?  However, as prosecutors in this case, pro-lifers, indeed anyone who has ever seen an ultrasound image knows, the choices Reddig made affected a second life—Collin’s life—thereby nullifying her right to do whatever she wanted.

As pro-lifers, all we can do is pray that the loss of her son is the wake-up call Reddig needs to turn her life around.  With a lot of prayer and support maybe someday she can use her loss as an example of the illogic of the “her body, her choice” argument.