It’s a new day in Raleigh since Republicans recently obtained the two-thirds super majority enabling them to override Governor Cooper’s vetoes. That’s exactly what they did last week with a new law limiting abortion in our state. The vote followed party lines. All Republicans voted for the bill, while all Democrats voted against it. Clearly, the Republican Party is the one that celebrates life.

Abortion is still legal in N.C. The difference now is that new safeguards have been put in place. The time frame for aborting a baby has been changed from 20 weeks to 12 weeks. Exceptions for rape, incest, fetal abnormalities, emergencies, and the life of the mother are as before. Since science affirms that preborns may react to pain at eight weeks from conception, is it not inhumane to tear these babies apart or kill them with saline solution? They feel pain just as we do! The right to life and protection should especially include these weakest members of the human family.

The Supreme Court’s decision last year ruled each state can determine its own abortion policies. Why is this so controversial? State laws differ on many issues. It is only to be expected that more conservative states have more conservative policies. If you’re unhappy with yours, no one is stopping you from going to one with more liberal practices. Yet Democrats have gone wild scaring women into thinking they are being stripped of their healthcare rights. Yelling “women’s reproductive tights are in danger” has resorted in intimidation and violence against those pleading for the unborn’s life. It’s time the truth was objectively presented instead of it being drowned out by the shrieking cries of protesters misstating the facts.

Liberals have sought to undermine the basic, bottom line: abortion is murder. By replacing the word “baby” with “fetus” their conscience is assuaged of the cold hard fact that they killed their preborn child. Even Shakespeare realized this trick doesn’t work when he said, “A rose by any other name smells as sweet.” The life of the baby supersedes the woman’s right to destroy it. Science has always known life begins at conception. Yet this only seems to apply to humans. Why else are there severe penalties (up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine) for destroying turtle eggs? It’s ludicrous that unborn turtles have more protections and rights than unborn babies!

Legal abortions were never intended to be used as a means of birth control. President Clinton made this point in 1993 when he stated that abortions should be “safe, legal, and rare.” Sadly, the “rare” part fell by the wayside. Abortion is now commonly used to end an “unwanted pregnancy.”

My question is, why do so many women continue to become pregnant when there are numerous birth control methods to avoid pregnancy? Sex education has been taught in schools even before the “free love” movement of the 1960s. The approval of the birth control pill in 1960 immensely reduced the likelihood of pregnancy as did IUDs. And who can forget machines in boys’ bathrooms that provided condoms? While none of these methods is 100% foolproof they are generally effective. There’s just one problem: they have to be used. Abortions would be greatly reduced if these means of birth control were utilized.

In today’s highly sophisticated, sex-saturated society, I guess it’s too unreasonable for young people to learn of the only birth control method proven to be 100% effective: abstinence. Is it really beyond the pale to expect them to stay sexually pure until their wedding night? I know of no one who regrets saving sex for the marriage bed, but know many who wish they had done so.

Why is the alternative of adoption discounted? “I could never give up my baby,” the mother says. All right, then just kill it and be done with it. Is that how love acts? How many of us living today would not be here if abortion had been legal when we were conceived?

Too many women have believed the lie from hell thinking abortion is a quick fix to an unwanted pregnancy. Yet the trauma to the mother often doesn’t end once the baby is discarded. Numerous women have suffered in silence for years with remorse over their choice.

We should thank our elected leaders for taking a stronger stand for life. Allowing more babies to live is the right thing to do. Abortion is still safe and legal. Let’s hope this new law also makes it more rare.

Renee C. Scheidt lives in Salisbury.