54,559,615 Dead

From Daniel Halper, writing for The Weekly Standard:

Today is the 40th anniversary of the Supreme Court rulling on Roe v. Wade. The National Right to Life Committee estimates that, in that time period, there have been 54,559,615 abortions in America. 

"In a new document, 'Abortion Statistics: United States Data and Trends,' NRLC education director Dr. Randall K. O’Bannon estimates that there have been 54,559,615 abortions since 1973 based on data from both the Centers for Disease Control and the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute, a former Planned Parenthood research arm. Guttmacher receives numbers directly from abortion centers themselves and is the prime source for more current figures because the Centers for Disease Control has never tabulated accurate numbers of abortions. The CDC relies on figures from state health departments, some of which rely on voluntary reporting — and it hasn’t had data from some states such as California and New Hampshire for more than a decade," lifenews.com reports.

It's staggering to think of a number so high. Given the chance to live, what might these people have accomplished? How many cures to various diseases would have been discovered? What about works of art? How many children would they have had? The impact that just one good friend can have on another's life is incalculable and, with so many lives snuffed out, who can deny the absence of a potential best friend, with all the accompanying consolations, to someone now living? The unanswered and unanswerable questions cut to the heart.