The pro-life movement achieved its single biggest victory in the last 50 years on June 24, 2022, when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade with its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

Advocates for life, including those who travel annually to Washington, D.C., for the March for Life or who protest outside abortion clinics, knew that overturning Roe would not be the end of the fight. But they had hoped that Dobbs would at least represent the light at the end of the tunnel. (READ MORE from Aubrey Gulick: 11-Year-Old Forced to Have An Abortion)

Unfortunately, the light is much further away than many had hoped. Last week, a report published by WeCount said that the number of abortions performed in the U.S. actually increased in the year following the Dobbs decision — even though more than a dozen states have passed laws banning or limiting abortions. According to the Guardian, “states [that still permit the procedure] performed 116,790 more abortions than expected.”

While abortions fell exponentially in states like Texas, Georgia, Arizona, Tennessee, and Louisiana, they rose dramatically in Florida, Illinois, North Carolina, California, and New Mexico.

It’s possible that media fear-mongering played a role in the increase. Headlines like “Texas woman almost dies because she couldn’t get an abortion” or “Louisiana woman says she was denied an abortion after fetus developed rare condition” are designed to pull at the heartstrings of women, and they certainly make it much more difficult to pass state legislation banning, or even just limiting, the procedure. (READ MORE: Abortionist Remains Free While Biden Admin Convicts Pro-life Heroes)

Women have also become increasingly aware of the ease of access to the abortion pill — you can just order it via telehealth and receive it in the mail. To the naïve, the abortion pill, especially in the early stages of pregnancy, provides an easy solution to an unwanted problem — never mind that it is a deadly poison for the fragile life taking root in these women. Before Dobbs, the pill only accounted for under 5 percent of abortions; now, that number is closer to 8 percent.

There are ways to combat media fear-mongering, and currently, lawsuits are in play to help decrease the impact of the pill. The primary reason for the rise in abortions, however, is that women are convinced they can kill their children, and changing that will require a shift in perspective and a change of heart. (READ MORE from Aubrey Gulick: Will Ohio Vote No on Radical Abortion Amendment?)

Women have been told for decades that they have a right to decide whether they keep a pregnancy — that the new baby growing within them is not a life but an abnormal growth they can choose to foster or discard. That mindset will have to change before progress can be made. When women are told that the government wants to take away their right to abortion, they must universally respond, “It should.”