The mantra from Dr. Seuss’ “Horton Hears A Who” is quite fitting for Sanctity of Human Life Sunday — a day that sheds light around the darkness that is federally mandated legalized abortion. Tuesday will mark 40 years since the U.S. Supreme ruled on the infamous Roe v. Wade and the lesser-known Doe v. Bolton cases.
All “powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” — 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
Since our founding, family law and police powers were left up to the purview of the states. Each one decided through the legislative process what its laws would be on everything from murder and the death penalty, kidnapping and domestic abuse, to abortion and rape.
The founders in their ultimate wisdom knew that such hot-button issues should be decided upon by the voters of each state. Thus, our diverse, often-disparate nation is supposed to be made up of 50 laboratories of democracy, since what works for one place might not jibe for another.
A “state may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory; and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country.” — U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis
And if one state implemented an ultimately failing policy it was up to the people to either peaceably work to change the law or vote with their feet: the disaffected could move to another state, taking with them their productivity and money. After all, shrinking the tax base is always a great way to get the attention of legislators.
The founders understood that in a nation as large and varied as ours (approximately 300 million people today), one-size-fits-all edicts would only create strife and disunity. And leaving abortion up to the states had been how the issue was determined and regulated for some 200 years.
“We are all adopted in Christ … we belong to the Father, even when nobody else wants us.” — loosely based on Ephesians 1
But on January 22, 1973, the high court ruled on Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton. The infamous Roe asserted that a woman has a right to an abortion until the “viability” of the baby, while the lesser-known Doe stated that a woman can obtain an abortion post-viability in order to protect her “health.”
Forget that as prenatal and neonatal medicines progress, viability changes and that it hasn’t been the constant the court hoped it would be. Or don’t worry that health was said to include “physical, emotional, psychological, familial (health), and the woman’s age.” What’s not health, right?
Forget that as sonography advances, people can plainly see a human form living, breathing and moving well before viability (including a heart beat at just 21 days). It’s not just a “blob of tissue,” which is how the “experts” often misleadingly describe the development of a first-trimester child.
“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb … I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” — Psalm 139: 13-14
Forget that everyone knows at least one woman who has had a surgical abortion, since the astounding stat is that one in four pregnancies in America end in induced abortion. And don’t worry that abortifacients are commonly distributed on some our nation’s college campuses in vending machines. That’s women’s health?
Forget that 55 million people’s lives have been snuffed out, especially concerning since western civilization is now experiencing depopulation. And don’t worry that nine lawyers in robes invented a right to privacy under the due process clause of 14th Amendment, enabling on-demand abortion to take hold and flourish, irregardless of the will of the people.
Whatever your opinion is on the science, the stats, the statutes, the logic or the emotion, you must admit, wouldn’t you like a voice, a say, a vote on the matter? Wouldn’t the legislative process be preferable to a monolithic edict by judicial fiat? Don’t you think that the citizens of each state should decide their laws on such a divisive, life-altering issues?
The personal is political
Personally, I don’t think Roe will ever be overturned; instead, the lucrative industry will probably be forever threaded in the fabric of our society. As the abortion lobby likes to say, it’s “the law of the land” (even though the judiciary’s role isn’t to craft law) and is also perpetuated at tax-payer expense, unfortunately.
So, I believe it is up to pro-baby/mommy/daddy folks to try to change hearts and minds, one person at a time. This often seems an insurmountable task, but the cause is a worthy one for sure.
Just because you can get a surgical abortion at virtually any stage of pregnancy and often obtain abortifacients without a prescription doesn’t mean you have to do so. There are other choices available to you. Information is key.
“It’s much easier to demagogue than it is to educate.” — Jason Lewis, author & radio talk-show host
One option is to donate to your local pregnancy care center to help them obtain equipment and personnel for offering its clients ultrasounds: the ultimate in prenatal education. Perhaps you could participate in fundraising efforts, since life-affirming centers typically don’t receive government funds (as they don’t want bureaucrats telling them how to run their organization).
You could also volunteer at a center as peer advocate. Or you could take part in an abortion-recovery class, should you be a woman (or man) who is feeling regret and grief due to your abortion experience.
In fact, I hope to facilitate such a class at my local pregnancy care center. I’ve already completed the volunteer training, so now all I have to do is shadow the current facilitator before I can actually serve in that role.
I truly feel called to this important work, as it helps those scarred by abortion find forgiveness and peace, as well as gain empowerment. Please pray that I can finally make this long-time goal happen in 2013!
“Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” — George Bernard Shaw (sure, he was a Fabian socialist, but I’m still co-opting this quote for my own ends)
At the very least, if you are life-affirming, speak up when you find yourself surrounded by “reproductive rights” types. Politely expressing an unpopular opinion, while informing folks of the facts is sometimes just what the party needs to get rolling. Here’s to bucking the status quo!
