Hispanics Americans strongly oppose abortion, I hope Hispanic Democrats understand imperative to return to our family values

By Adryana Boyne
Thirty-eight years ago the Supreme Court made a terrible decision that imposed abortion-on-demand in America. Abortion affects ALL Americans and certainly affects the Hispanic community in America.

According to a recent poll, the majority of American Hispanics oppose abortion. The poll done by Univision and Associated Press shows that 39% of Hispanics say abortion should be mostly legal, while polls of the general population indicate that approximately 46-54% of Americans think abortion should be legal. The survey also shows that English-speaking Hispanics are less likely to oppose legalized abortion than their Spanish-speaking counterparts.

What does this mean? There are different groups of Hispanics: Those who are recent immigrants, the children of immigrants who are usually bilingual, and those who have been in the United States for a longer time. The vast majority of this last group speaks only English. Latin Americans come from countries where abortion goes against their faith, their values, their culture, their morals and their laws. However, in the process of being “Americanized,” they are adapting the Democrat philosophy that a woman’s choice is more important than life of an unborn child. Besides my work as a commentator and consultant on Hispanic issues, I have been serving the conservative cause in communicating the importance of our pro-life values in the Spanish media. As National Director of VOCES Action, I have been able to influence this large segment of the population to maintain and support this foundational American value. Spanish speaking parents need to influence their children who may not speak Spanish. Hispanics need to be steered away from the anti-Christian social agenda of liberal Democrats who dominate Spanish media and Spanish community groups. By communicating our conservative voice (Voces in Spanish), we can help curb the liberal agenda that has led our country astray from its moral foundation. I am excited about the possibilities of restricting abortion and saving lives this year. The abortion rate in Texas has fallen at a higher rate than the nation's. I am grateful for all the pro-life organizations and citizens that help those organizations by praying, giving and participating with them. In the current legislative session for the House of Representative in Texas, pro-life legislators support the passage of the Sonogram Bill, giving women considering abortion the right to see the sonogram image of her unborn child and to hear the heartbeat. Our Texas Governor Rick Perry recently said that he would fast-track a bill requiring a woman seeking an abortion to first be shown a sonogram.

I was invited by Univision Television, which has opened their doors for some conservatives to speak, to debate on Gustavo Monsante's program Voz y Voto, the number one Spanish political show in Texas. This show has been working to maintain a balanced view on controversial issues. I was invited to participate in a debate against a Democrat State Representative on the sonogram bill. Rep. Jessica Farrar declined to debate this time (I guess she remembered last year when I put her in a difficult situation before the Hispanic community, exposing her liberal position). New State representative from El Paso Naomi Gonzalez was invited, but ten minutes before we went on the air she called to say she was not coming. I have the two segments in the program. I explained why life begins at conception, what viability is, the fact that the woman has other options instead of abortion and the importance that a woman should be trusted with the information of a sonogram before she makes a decision to terminate the life of her unborn baby or babies. Presently, abortion providers can legally deny women this information. Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers oppose the Sonogram bill.


State Senator Dan Patrick (SB16) and State Representatives Geannie Morrison (HB 201), Kelly Hancock (HB 580) and Todd Smith (HB 325) have introduced pro-life sonogram bills. Senate Bill 16 and House Bill 201 require the abortion provider to perform a sonogram and make the image and heartbeat available to women. All the bills would require the sonogram to be displayed, but in each one the woman is not forced to watch. All of the bills would require that the development of the baby be explained orally (with no opt out provision) and the Doppler of the heartbeat made audible for her as well. HB 201 requires this be done in a separate visit 24 hours before, and HB 325 will likely be amended to reflect the same, but currently requires it be done within an hour before the abortion in one visit. HB 201 also requires the doctor or his agent to actually hand the Women’s Right to Know booklet produced by the state in her hand, which differs from current law requiring the abortion provider to make the booklet available.

When I debated Rep. Jessica Farrar last year on the Sonogram Bill, she argued that performing a sonogram could be “harmful”. I asked harmful tor whom? Harmful to the baby!- she said. I responded: Really? More harmful than “killing the baby”.- I find her response interesting, so, the “fetus” is called a baby by some pro abortion advocates, when a doctor will perform a sonogram but is called a fetus when a person would like to get rid of him/her?

I also confronted Rep. Roberto Alonzo in a past debate in a Summit in Forth Worth with hundreds of Community College Hispanic Leaders from all over the nation. Rep. Alonzo said that his own mother recognized that the Republican Party is the one who mainly protect the right to life of the unborn while democrats are pro-abortion but that Democrats are the ones for the "poor people". My answer then was: Yes, it’s the party that would like people to remain poor due to the big government and big spending and which also attempts against family values and against the right to life for the unborn. Where are the values of our Hispanic community on this?

I want to leave clear that I have not met Representative Naomi Gonzalez and even when she did not show up for the debate, she later emailed an apology for not been able to come to the debate. I also would like to share in this blog that outside of cameras, forums and public debates, even while I disagree in a variety of issues with the Democrats, I have a cordial relationship with State Representatives Alonzo and Farrar, especially with Rep. Alonzo whom I have debated over a dozen times. Both of them, Rep. Alonzo and Rep. Farrar are from Hispanic origin and both come from families where faith and values have been taught. I have told them, and I will continue telling them, that I pray that someday they will reconsider their position on abortion and will chose to defend the right to life for the unborn; a position that I believe their parents and grandparents hold. Their families come from families where they have faith in God. And we all know that God created life and that life begins at conception. The position of most Hispanic families is one with strong values and the desire for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for ALL Americans, including those inside their mother’s womb.







To finish taking in this theme, I would like to add that as a conservative American, and as a Hispanic, I get a little concerned when fellow conservatives strongly oppose some of us who serve our community by communicating the conservative values and issues in Spanish. Let me respectfully remind you that Spanish is the second most-common language in the United States after English. Spanish is the primary language spoken at home by over 35.5 million people aged 5 or older....There are 45 million Hispanics who speak Spanish as a first or second language and there are 6 million Spanish students, making it the world's second-largest Spanish-speaking community, only after Mexico and ahead of Spain, Colombia and Argentina.

According to the census of 2009 34.63% of the population in Texas speaks Spanish. While some people are spending their time fighting on the issue that English should be the ONLY language of this country or wanting to call it the official language of the USA, and while I am very respectful and honor and support the idea that every American citizen should speak English, there are millions of people out there who need the information in Spanish. Just in the state of Texas, there are 7,781,211 Spanish speakers. So, there is a lot of work to do. And if we conservatives think that we should not be giving the information with conservative points of view out there in Spanish, and educating the Spanish speaking community with conservative values, guess who has been giving other information out there and is actually doing a "good" job misinforming the community?!

Like it or not like it, I am doing my job using one of the best tools that God has enabled me with, and it is my flawless Spanish. I thank God for it, and I thank God that He allowed me to come to this great country and for becoming an American Citizen.