Georgia Right to Life director: Let us celebrate the end of Roe

Zemmie Fleck
·3 min read

Editor's note: This column has been updated to reflect the recent Supreme Court decision on Roe v. Wade and to clarify several statistics.

This column is by Zemmie Fleck, executive director of Georgia Right to Life and a native of Atlanta who is dedicated to the right to life of all innocent human beings and the preservation of the God-ordained family. She may be reached at zemmie@grtl.org  

Unlike this year, the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade has made it possible for millions more children to celebrate Father’s Day in 2023.

At the same time, we must end the marginalization of men. While fatherlessness is one of the most important, yet ignored issues in our culture, the destructive idea of “toxic masculinity” is destroying many families because the time-honored role of a man leading his household has been stripped away by our culture and replaced with the man portrayed as an emasculated follower in his household; a hapless, helpless man who is good for nothing or more of a kid than a husband and father.

More opinions on abortion: Georgia abortion pill mail ban bill, less to do with women's health, more about control

In many cases, men are left out of the abortion conversation, denying them the opportunity to be fathers. And yet, fathers are essential to the well-being of the family. Without a father, children face poverty, trouble in school, physical abuse, sexual abuse, maltreatment, early sexual activity, teen pregnancy and the list goes on.

Kristin Costanza, left, a student at Mount Saint Mary's University in Emmitsburg, MD, prays in front of the Supreme Court during the March for Life to mark the 33rd anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade Jan. 23, 2006 in Washington, D.C.
Kristin Costanza, left, a student at Mount Saint Mary's University in Emmitsburg, MD, prays in front of the Supreme Court during the March for Life to mark the 33rd anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade Jan. 23, 2006 in Washington, D.C.

As to the issue of abortion in general, women have been fed lies. The mantra of “my body, my choice” is both factually and Biblically wrong.

Medical advances such as ultrasounds clearly show that the child is a separate and unique person who is living inside the mother, but not part of the mother.

Biblically speaking, in Psalm 139, King David proclaims: “For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place; when I was woven together in the depths of the earth, Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be” (NIV).

For subscribers: My mom had an abortion almost 50 years ago. My family is finally talking about her decision

I praise God that the Supreme Court has ended abortion, a procedure that, according to a study conducted on behalf of the National Right to Life Committee has claimed the lives of more than 63 million innocent children since the Roe v. Wade decision of 1973. That’s nearly the population of France. In 2020, 31,248 pre-born children in Georgia, my home state, were denied their God-given right to life, an increase of 592 over the previous year.

That is a significant statistic because 2020 was the year of COVID-19 when, in Georgia, only facilities providing “essential services” should have been open. Abortion is the gravest scourge of human rights abuse of innocent lives of our time.

A group of volunteer clinic escorts (in multi colored vests), stand outside of Choices Women's Medical Center off of Jamaica Avenue in Queens, as abortion protesters hold signs June 18, 2022. The escorts walk with patients to the clinic, when they are sometimes confronted by abortion protesters gathered at the site.
A group of volunteer clinic escorts (in multi colored vests), stand outside of Choices Women's Medical Center off of Jamaica Avenue in Queens, as abortion protesters hold signs June 18, 2022. The escorts walk with patients to the clinic, when they are sometimes confronted by abortion protesters gathered at the site.

It’s critical to understand that overturning Roe is not the end of the struggle. It is the starting point. In Georgia, it will clear the way to potentially adopt a personhood amendment to our state constitution. Such an amendment will ensure that no innocent person could be legally killed in Georgia. It will provide protection, equal justice, and equal rights for all innocent human beings at any stage of development, age, medical condition, manner of conception, or race.

A personhood amendment is vital because Georgia’s current law fails to protect all pre-born children because it allows abortions in the case of rape, incest or a suspected fetal anomaly. These exceptions wrongly proclaim that some lives are less valuable than others.

Abortion law changes ahead: Here's what would happen in Georgia if Roe v. Wade is overturned

Zemmie Fleck is Executive Director of Georgia Right to Life, a native of Atlanta, GA, who is dedicated to the right to life of all innocent human beings and the preservation of the God-ordained family. She may be reached at zemmie@grtl.org
Zemmie Fleck is Executive Director of Georgia Right to Life, a native of Atlanta, GA, who is dedicated to the right to life of all innocent human beings and the preservation of the God-ordained family. She may be reached at zemmie@grtl.org

The bottom line: America has taken a monumental step toward righting itself from the evil of abortion. Now, all states must totally ban the killing of preborn children, men must be respected, fathers must take responsibility for their children and family values must be celebrated.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Fleck: Celebrate end Roe v. Wade and establish a personhood amendment