Recently a slick anti-abortion advertising supplement arrived with our newspaper. It was titled "Trapped" and focused the problem of crisis pregnancies solely on women. Nowhere was any reference to responsible male behavior. This is typical of most anti-choice literature.

Since abortions are on the decline in West Virginia, this should all be moot. The Roe v. Wade decision 36 years ago tried to make this procedure safe and legal, which resulted in women's lives being saved so, ironically, they could try to be mothers down the road when they were ready, a fact that is ignored by such groups.

Luckily, our legislature is finally rebelling against anti-choice lobbyists and saying that we are not going to put women and doctors in prison, and that teens have the right to end pregnancies since they obviously would be at risk as immature parents, usually without a supportive employed husband, and would end up being supported by taxpayers. Incest and sexual assault continue at shocking levels in this country, with little remedy.

Nowhere in this supplement is the condemnation of a radical fringe that was bent on blowing up clinics and murdering doctors. Luckily this seems to have died down, but ironically these clinics often provide other health services including care for pregnant women. They had to hear the yelling while inside and see the picketing along with all other clients.

A small percentage of women regret abortions, but there is a larger portion who suffer from post-partum depression. And of course we should not tolerate some staff who are poorly trained and do not objectively deliver services in a compassionate manner in clinics or anywhere else.

Nowhere does the brochure mention that half a million children wait unadopted in foster facilities, and unfortunately we have heard of abuse in many foster homes. Red tape and delays in adoption in the United States have forced would-be parents to adopt from Asia and Eastern Europe. Some children come with psychological abandonment issues causing behavioral problems. Some adoptions are arranged through shady deals with women.

Surprisingly, the supplement continues the fiction of a relationship between breast cancer and abortion, which has been debunked in respectable medical organizations.

Margaret Sanger and even some hallowed suffragists did hold racist views toward immigrants and African-Americans. But other anti-choice literature tells how the white race is not reproducing as much as others. Years ago, I read a statement from a congressman in a national news magazine worrying how we would produce enough people to fight our wars if we continued offering abortions. So our purpose as mothers was to produce cannon fodder! Eugenics was behind Nazism, which saw only Aryan women as acceptable baby producers.

Recently a slick anti-abortion advertising supplement arrived with our newspaper. It was titled "Trapped" and focused the problem of crisis pregnancies solely on women. Nowhere was any reference to responsible male behavior. This is typical of most anti-choice literature.

Since abortions are on the decline in West Virginia, this should all be moot. The Roe v. Wade decision 36 years ago tried to make this procedure safe and legal, which resulted in women's lives being saved so, ironically, they could try to be mothers down the road when they were ready, a fact that is ignored by such groups.

Luckily, our legislature is finally rebelling against anti-choice lobbyists and saying that we are not going to put women and doctors in prison, and that teens have the right to end pregnancies since they obviously would be at risk as immature parents, usually without a supportive employed husband, and would end up being supported by taxpayers. Incest and sexual assault continue at shocking levels in this country, with little remedy.

Nowhere in this supplement is the condemnation of a radical fringe that was bent on blowing up clinics and murdering doctors. Luckily this seems to have died down, but ironically these clinics often provide other health services including care for pregnant women. They had to hear the yelling while inside and see the picketing along with all other clients.

A small percentage of women regret abortions, but there is a larger portion who suffer from post-partum depression. And of course we should not tolerate some staff who are poorly trained and do not objectively deliver services in a compassionate manner in clinics or anywhere else.

Nowhere does the brochure mention that half a million children wait unadopted in foster facilities, and unfortunately we have heard of abuse in many foster homes. Red tape and delays in adoption in the United States have forced would-be parents to adopt from Asia and Eastern Europe. Some children come with psychological abandonment issues causing behavioral problems. Some adoptions are arranged through shady deals with women.

Surprisingly, the supplement continues the fiction of a relationship between breast cancer and abortion, which has been debunked in respectable medical organizations.

Margaret Sanger and even some hallowed suffragists did hold racist views toward immigrants and African-Americans. But other anti-choice literature tells how the white race is not reproducing as much as others. Years ago, I read a statement from a congressman in a national news magazine worrying how we would produce enough people to fight our wars if we continued offering abortions. So our purpose as mothers was to produce cannon fodder! Eugenics was behind Nazism, which saw only Aryan women as acceptable baby producers.

The supplement then tackles the myth of overpopulation. Fact: 40,000 children starve to death daily worldwide. In our own United States, 50 children die daily of poverty-related illnesses. A thousand are beaten to death annually. The sub-Saharan desert is growing. Inadequate distribution of food, jobs and services continue within rich and poor countries. If people are starving or are victims of governments in crisis, then countries have shown they cannot take care of their populations.

While birth rates are down in many Western countries, some other countries still practice forced marriage, and as we are learning, right here in American polygamy compounds, some women are giving birth to up to 20 children, starting as teens. The Human Life Alliance does not speak out on these outrages of women as chattel.

The reason given in the supplement of the dangers of the leveling of population is that we need young people being born to take care of retirees. Statistics show, though, that aging populations commit less crime, which could ease the burden of criminal justice and social service agencies. Ironically, crime has decreased with each passing year since Roe v. Wade.

One of the most dangerous sections of the supplement goes after birth control in general, listing them all as abortifacients and therefore unacceptable. Imagine what would happen to our quality of life if we were denied all birth control? That would put us back centuries, to larger families needed in agrarian societies and shorter life spans for women who are constantly childbearing. Imagine the strain on every walk of society, from education to all social and civic services and increasing taxes. Could we keep up with the demands of new crowding? Even today, many schools and veterans facilities have fallen into disrepair, and infrastructure is crumbling.

There is nothing more tragic than unwanted children who are abused by their parents. An EMT once told me of a battered toddler dying in his arms whose last words were, "I was bad."

I know I speak from an elitist position because our daughter was planned and born healthy via natural childbirth. My husband took the first paternity leave from the state to be a full-time father for a year.

But it doesn't seem that this group has much sympathy for ill or poverty-stricken women in crisis pregnancies because they rarely lobby for an expansion of social services and sex education beyond the failed abstinence programs. Their only answer is hang in there and put it up for adoption. This group should make us uneasy with their wanting control over women's reproduction. What is next?

Burger is a former president of WVNOW and a retired teacher.