Movement for a Better America

Obamacare:
Fast Track to
Economic Suicide

By Dennis M. Howard

Economic conservatives are worried about the runaway tax and spend potential of President Obama�s health care initiative. They are worried that "before this thing is through, it could cost us $1.6 trillion and still not solve the health care problem."

But that's not even half the real story.

What the eco-conservatives are overlooking is the hidden cost of federal funding of abortion as part of an �essential benefits package� that will be imposed on everyone unless it is explicitly excluded from the legislation. Right now, the Democrats are opposed to such an exclusion.

If the health care bill passes without this exclusion, taxpayers will be forced to pay for other people's abortions whether they like it or not. And the $1.6 trillion the eco-conservatives are worried about will only be the tip of a very large iceberg.

That's because abortion has a huge hidden economic cost. It's the loss in GDP represented by all those babies who never had a chance to grow up to become the future workers, consumers, taxpayers, and parents the nation needs to sustain future economic growth.

This is something the younger generation better start worrying about. People under 40 will still be paying taxes 30 to 50 years from now, so they will take the biggest hit from this phenomenon. And because their numbers have already been depleted by abortion, that means even fewer shoulders on which to rest a much bigger burden.

We've already had more than 51.7 million abortions since 1970. That's a whopping 30.6% of our under 40 population. If we had a war that took that kind of toll, we would have run up the white flag decades ago. The pro-aborts just don�t give up that easily.

What they don't want to admit is that people are our country�s most important renewable resource. Ever since Roe v. Wade, we�ve been depleting that resource with abandon.

The hidden cost of those 51.7 million abortions has already reached an estimated $35 trillion in lost GDP. Assuming a 33% tax rate, that's enough to pay off our entire current national debt with enough left over to fund a vibrant economy.

If all those kids had lived, we wouldn't be in the mess we�re in.

Looking forward, the picture is even grimmer especially if we keep subsidizing abortion. That�s exactly what the Democrats propose to do by sending you the bill for other people�s abortions.

GDP per capita is now about $45,000 a year, and � until the current slump � it was compounding at a rate of 4% a year. It is a measure that includes everyone from the cradle to the grave. But every baby we abort is one less contributor to GDP � not just for today, but for a lifetime and beyond.

Every child we abort today costs us $23 million in future GDP over a lifetime. And abortion takes a huge toll of other jobs. Babies don't compete for jobs with the rest of us for their first 20 years. They create jobs for everybody else � doctors, nurses, teachers, homebuilders, retailers, you name it.

If there ever was a major job killer, it is the baby-killing industry.

Yet all those nuts we send to Congress continue to subsidize Planned Parenthood to the tune of $326 million a year. That�s about $1,000 for every abortion Planned Parenthood performs. Now Congress wants to compound that by making you pay again . . . and again . . . and again.

So, unless abortion is explicitly excluded from Obama�s health care plan, get ready for even higher taxes. Whether its your abortion or someone else's, you�re going to get the bill.

Planned Parenthood estimates that the number of abortions will rise by 20% to 35% if the Obama health care bill passes. That will take abortions back to levels not seen since the mid-1980�s. And that means even bigger losses in future GDP.

Thanks to the magic of compounding, by 2040 to 2050, we're already looking at cumulative GDP losses of $335 to $500 trillion dollars just from abortion. Add another 20% to 35% to that, and we're talking about really big money.

That's why I call Obamacare a "fast track to national suicide." It is far more significant than anything else that threatens us this side of eternal damnation.

In his book, Obamanomics, John Talbott lists "25 Greatest Threats to our Prosperity." (Oddly abortion is not one of them!) High on his list are World Poverty ($100 trillion), Global Warming ($60 trillion), Globalization�s Nasty Side Effects ($60 trillion) . . . all the way down to Terrorism ($5 trillion).

His terrorism tab is laughable. We�ve already exceeded it. And nearly all of the others are based on numbers conjured up in someone�s imagination.

My estimates, on the other hand, are based on hard-rock numbers. GDP per capita is a measure that is used universally throughout the world. Indeed, my estimates are more conservative than those employed by government agencies in the cost/benefit analyses they use to plan their spending.

But try telling that to some politician who firmly believes that abortion is some kind of free lunch. Sure, it looks "free" to a guy who wants to avoid the responsibility of paying 21 years of child support, but the baby�s only crime is wanting to call him "Daddy" for the rest of his life.

For the rest of us, it adds up to more of what we have been experiencing for the last 35 years � declining personal incomes, a shrinking economy, lost jobs, rising taxes, and less freedom as the Nanny State takes over more and more of our personal lives.

In short, abortion is the biggest fraud ever perpetrated on the American people.

But you have a choice. If you want bigger tax bills, a grimmer future for your children and grandchildren, and more government encroachment on your right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, just go back to sleep and forget you ever read this.

But if you are ready to stand up for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, join our new non-partisan campaign, We the People Speak, to restore common sense to American politics.

Email your comments to:

We the People Speak!

"Your voice won't count until it is heard."

You may also send your comments by mail to:
The Movement for a Better America, Inc.
PO Box 470. Mt. Freedom, NJ. 07970

Dennis Howard is a veteran Catholic journalist and market researcher who founded the Movement for a Better America in 1995. He has been researching and writing about the economic impact of abortion for 15 years, and was the first to forecast our current economic crisis based on fundamental demographic factors. He says: "The stimulus package was like putting a band-aid on somone who just fell out of a 50-story window."

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Contact your representatives by calling the U.S. Capitol switchboard: 202.224.3121. And urge them to vote against any bill that includes federal funding for abortion.

At Youth Camp, young people learn practical skills, too

A Cry from Uganda

An interview with Richard Sempala, Director
Africa Life Youth Foundation

By Dennis Howard, President
The Movement for a Better America

Here is the complete interview:

Howard: Tell me more about your background, Richard. What was it like for you growing up in Uganda, and what led you to your present work?

Sempala: It's a blessing to talk with you, brother. You are always so encouraging. I think God has brought us together for a higher purpose. Our worlds are so different, but so many problems are the same -- just worse here because we are so poor.

I don't have any real memory of my early childhood. I believe my mother was a prostitute, and I was simply abandoned on the street at an early age. My first memories are as a street child begging for whatever scraps of food or clothes I needed to survive.

However, I am grateful that I was thrown out in the street instead of being aborted. At least I am alive to tell about it. Later, I remember coming home and finding nothing to eat and then having to go to school still hungry the next day. But God is good, and I was taken in by Christian missionaries, and became the foster child of very loving people.

I owe my life and faith to them, and to Our Lord who saved me. It is a miracle that I am alive. I was born again, and as I grew older, I wanted to give back the kindness that was given to me. That led me to working with young people who needed help the way I once did.

Howard: So what kind of problems do they face?

Sempala: It depends on their age, but most of the people I work with are of high school and college age, and the problems are many: economic hardship, premarital sex, school drop-outs, shame and family strife, and for the boys, being thrown into jail. In Uganda, if a boy gets a girl under 18 pregnant, the parents can have him thrown into jail, and by law the boy has to spend 14 years in jail. Premarital sex also results in unwanted pregnancies. Most of the girls are ashamed to be pregnant while they are still in school, so they end up having an abortion, which is a tragedy for both mother and the unborn baby.

Howard: How do you deal with that?

Sempala: Our approach is mainly educational. We try to help young people develop the right attitudes to avoid unwanted pregnancy and abortion. We place a strong emphasis on abstinence before marriage as the best prevention. We believe that if young people get to understand all the dangers, it will reduce the abortion rate and help solve the problem of poverty in Africa.

A major part of our approach is motivating young people to concentrate on their education and work for a brighter future. Nothing has done more harm to education in this century than the early sexualization of children. The fastest period of intellectual growth is between 5 and 13. Sexualizing children that young is a disaster for them and for the future of our country.

Abortion is also believed to be a leading cause of maternal death in the country. A 1992-1993 study in three Kampala hospitals found that 21% of maternal deaths were due to abortion-related complications like hemorrhage, sepsis (infection), uterine perforation and cervical injury, which can turn into longer consequences like infertility

Abortion not only threatens the lives and health of Ugandan women but also drains limited resources from the country�s health care system. Women who have abortion complications may require extended hospitalization, treatment with expensive antibiotics, or blood transfusions, which 95% of Ugandan women can�t afford. The result can be death.

Howard: What are the major reasons they abort?

Sempala: Women in Uganda express many reasons for seeking to end a pregnancy: being unmarried, having conceived at the wrong time, having too many children, living in poverty, being in poor health, or having become pregnant as a result of rape or incest.

At the national level, however, we do not have a totally clear picture of how many young people obtain abortions, since many women in Uganda use local herbs to induce abortion. Often, they have no access to hospital or health care clinics. Still others accept traditional culture to offer parts of born children to appease evil spirits. It's tragic, but it happens.

Howard: How big a problem are STD's and AIDS? What do you tell younger kids about them? And what do you say to older young adults?

Sempala: Young people are at the center of the global AIDS epidemic. About 40 per cent of new HIV infections involve young people. This group also has the highest rates of sexually transmitted infections other than HIV. Young people are particularly vulnerable to HIV infection -- 3.2 million young people who live in Sub-Saharan Africa are believed to be infected with the virus. Young women between 15 and 24 are more likely than young men to be HIV positive.

Howard: It seems that we have a world-wide problem because of the early sexualization of children, as well as treating them as "objects" that can be easily discarded, whether it is by abortion or simply abandoning them to the street. What are you telling young people to prevent this from happening to still another generation?

Sempala: We try to reach them as early as posssible. Premarital sex is a problem in high school, and then increases as young people move on to university or young adulthood. We try to show them the negative consequences of premarital sex and encourage them to abstain before marriage. We also use movies that show the experience of others. That has done a lot to touch their hearts on the wisdom of abstaining.

Howard: What are some the problems they run into?

Sempala: Premarital sex often leads to promiscuity. Sex becomes a way for them to prove themselves. They start wanting to sleep with different boys and become unable to establish lifetime bonding. The same thing happens to boys. The result is they have difficulty establishing and sustaining a later marriage.

Premarital sex also hurts young people mentally and spiritually. They lose interest in school and the result is poor performance, and then they drop out. They often lose contact with God, and end up dropping out of church as well because of the shame.

In some cases, young women feel used, and end up hating men and never being able to trust a man. I have counseled university women who met men who convinced them they wanted to marry them, but after having sex many times, the guys decided to drop them. That caused bitterness and disappointment. Now they hate men seriously.

Howard: That sounds similar to the situation here in the U.S. Are there there any problems peculiar to Africa or Uganda?

Sempala: Uganda is predominantly Christian -- 40% Catholic and 40% Protestant with a smaller Muslim minority. But we also have a mixture of pagan, Christian and Muslim cultures that has a long history. Some pagan practices still survive. Currently we have a big problem in Uganda with child sacrifice. Premarital sex has contributed to this evil in unexpected ways. If a girl becomes pregnant, and the boy denies the pregnancy, the girl suffers alone. So she faces the problem of how to take care of the baby and herself.

Some end up selling their babies to pagan businessmen who use them as sacrifices to evil spirits so their businesses will prosper. Some women sell their babies because they don't think anyone else will marry them if they have a child. The unintended consequences of premarital sex can take many forms.

Howard: What about the consequences of STD's, HIV, and AIDS?

Sempala: When young people discover that they are infected, they often lose interest in education and end up joining the wrong groups. Some take it out on others because of bitterness by infecting as many others as they can. Or they end up losing friends their own age or dying themselves. HIV/AIDS has also increased the number of suicides among young people. When they find that are infected, they think they have lost the love and trust of their families and end up killing themselves.

Howard: How do you try to help these people?

Sempala: Young people's needs are not limited to prevention alone. Those who are HIV positive need care, treatment and support as well as spiritual guidance. Some don't even know they are infected. Unfortunately, some religious leaders don't deal very well with HIV/AIDS and STD victims, although a lot of church members are infected and living with the virus. Talking about holy and spiritual things doesn't always work. You have deal with their very human problems, too.

I guess that's why our approach works. Because I grew up on the street, and saw so many of these problems firsthand before being born again, I am able to share my experience, strength and hope when others cannot.

Howard: So how do you talk to older kids who have already gotten involved in sex?

Sempala: We try to connect them with other people who have gone through the same thing, and give them the hope to be found in Scripture. This helps many people turn their lives around, and stay safe until they meet the right person for marriage.

We also try to help them on a material level. Many of them lack jobs so we help them create jobs to earn money to sustain their needs and be able to support families. We also have an agriculture project that helps them survive and go on with their lives. They plant greens and other cash crops on a small scale, and raise pigs and poultry, and at the same time, they learn agricultural skills.

Basically, these people need five things. They need factual information to guide them. Plus the skills to deal with their situations. We also provide them with youth-friendly health services that enable them to get help without being shamed. Finally, they need a safe environment where they can get the spiritual and emotional support they need to change.

Howard: Do have any special approaches that help them find that?

Sempala: We use youth-adult partnerships and other programs that are new ways of involving young people in HIV prevention. They are based on the understanding that young people have a right to participate in programs that affect them, plus the programs are more effective when youth are treated as partners. Because they are often less knowledgeable than their adult partners, these partnerships can focus on technical assistance and training that empowers young people to make their voices heard.

We find that young people can become important advocates for their needs. Policies also become more sensitive to their perspectives. We encourage young people to engage in outreach activities using one-to-one communications, and through groups such as clubs, sports teams, schools and youth gatherings. They learn to use music, dance and drama to speak about STD and HIV/AIDS.

Howard: What do you say to parents?

Sempala: Whenever I have chance to speak to parents I always tell them to become friends to their children, and not just authority figures. As children reach young adulthood, parents have to see themselves as their children's most important mentors. They have to teach more by example than by lecturing. Many parents experience a communications gap with their children and never find out what their children are experiencing emotionally. Another problem unique to Africa are people with large numbers of children because of polygamy. A man with 40 children can't pay much attention to any of them.

Howard: Do you receive government funding for your work and, if so, does that limit you?

Sempala: We don't receive any government funds, so we have complete freedom to speak out against abortion and unwanted pregnancy. Our funding comes from voluntary donations, and that of course means that we are completely dependent on God's providence. We also get help from supportive ministries like Movement for a Better America, the Life Aid Foundation and Freedom's Hope Ministries (http://www.fhm.spruz.net). Mike and Londa Furman of FHM have been helping us actively for at least five years. We could not exist without such help.

Howard: So what are your most active programs right now?

Sempala: They fall into five main areas:

1. Pro-Life Uganda, which is our main pro-life outreach to high school and university students. Abortion has done major damage to their value system, dispirited our young people, and left millions with guilt and shame that can last a lifetime. We need help for our Recovery Center, where young people come to us for counseling and financial help. We also need funding for Christian training materials on the life issues.

2. Mobile Health Clinics. Many people can't afford to go to hospital or clinics for health care, or help with pregnancies. Currently, we're giving out mosquito netting to help fight malaria, one of our greatest scourges.

3. Gospel Youth Camps for outreach and to help renovate people's houses. We have a Youth Week that helps young people socialize in a Christian setting and become more aware of balancing their physical and spiritual needs.

4. An Agricultural Project to help develop agricultural and other skills, including planting green vegetables, raising pigs and poultry, and starting small businesses. These help teach the basics for income generation and economic survival.

5. A Water Project that includes drilling wells and training people to use resources wisely. Water is very critical one here.

Howard: You recently finished a youth conference and an outreach to a Sudanese refugee camp in Uganda. Tell me more about these.

Sempala: Our Youth Conference took place in Western Uganda. It was for 3 days and 250 young people attended. Over 1,000 registered, but we couldn't accommodate them because we didn't have the funds to feed them. The main focus was on preventing abortion and unwanted pregnancy. I also spoke on how young Christians should walk in a sinful world. Food and transportation alone cost cost $1700, but we had to borrow much of that to meet our commitment. The need is great, and the eagerness of these young people to hear the truth is amazing. We need help to respond to both.

Our visit to the Sudanese refugee camp was a 1-day event, but their need is awesome. They have been victims of a cruel civil war for 21 years. Young Sudanese know nothing but a world full of war and the killing of innocent people, so they desperately need God's love and mercy, as well as His justice.

Howard: That sounds like a challenge for the whole Christian community.

Sempala: This is a time for unity and solidarity among pro-life people of good will throughout the world. We are grateful for the helping hands of our friends in America. The world seems to be in a satanic grip targeting the young people of this world as victims, both moral and spiritual -- seeking to turn them away from the living God -- and material and emotional as well. We have all become one, both in Africa and America, and the time is at hand for us to respond to the cries of our youngest generation.

Donations for Richard Sempala's work can be sent to:

Movement for a Better America
PO Box 472, Mt. Freedom, NJ 07970
Write "Uganda Project" on the memo line of your check.
For more info, email: [email protected]

Visit the Africa Life Youth Foundation

Foundation helps young families with very basic housing

CLICK HERE TO MAKE A DONATION

I Am Responsible . . .

. . . for treating all other persons with the same care and respect that I wish to be treated, including the unborn.

. . . for staying informed about issues affecting the family and their consequences for the well-being of our country and the world.

. . . for doing everything I can to inform and motivate others about our God-given right to life

. . . for recognizing that this task begins at home with educating and inspiring my own family and children about our God-given right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of genuine happiness.

. . . for praying for those who have been misled, misguided, and confused by the culture of death that they may rediscover a love for life in their hearts.

. . . . for compassionately reaching out to encourage my pastor, youth ministers, religious educators, and others about the need to educate young people about the impact of abortion on their futures.

. . . for lending a compassionate ear to anyone who has been confronted by pressure to have an abortion.

. . . for reaching out to women who regret past abortion decisions. I will respect their right to anonymity and concern myself with helping them find the healing they seek.

. . . for quietly building a pro-life majority in America through compassionate education rather than polarizing confrontation. Our best hope for achieving this is by speaking up and speaking out

. . . for recognizing that the struggle to protect the right to life will not be over until candidates who favor abortion can no longer be elected to high office. To that end I commit my heartfelt efforts.

. . . for supporting with my time and money those movements that are committed to this educational effort. The right to life is not a Democratic or Republican issue, it is a moral and a human issue.

. . . for making others aware of the incredible cost of abortion to our nation and our economy, a cost that will be burden our children and grandchildren. Every abortion today incurs a loss in future GDP of $23 million, and the 51.7 million abortions to date have already incurred a GDP loss in excess of $35 trillion.

. . . for spreading the word that abortion is, in fact, a form of national economic and social suicide.

. . .To that end, I pledge my support to The Movement for a Better America�s We the People Speak Campaign.

Email your comments to:

We the People Speak!

You may also send your comments by mail to:
The Movement for a Better America, Inc., PO Box 470. Mt. Freedom, NJ. 07970

Links:

MBA on Twitter
Dennis Howard on Facebook
Rock for Life
American Life League
Issues 4 Life Foundation
Africa Life Youth Foundation