In the latest LifeChat video series, we explore a striking link between slavery and abortion. We draw parallels between Dred Scott reigns and a recent Montana Ballot Initiative, which exposes the critical question of character. to Jamelle Bouie New York Times The piece triggered a controversial debate, as he advocated a mother’s right to choose, while we fight for the recognition of the personhood of the unborn. Join us as we discuss this important issue, invoking the principles of the 14th Amendment to ensure justice and equality for all, including the unborn.
Watch the full LifeChat: All Free or All Slave? Parallels of Slavery and Abortion
If you follow this video series, you may remember an episode where I discussed the link between slavery and abortion. In that conversation, I noticed a parallel between the Dred Scott decision and a failed ballot initiative in Montana. In the Dred Scott case, the Supreme Court ruled that once a black person was a slave, they were always a slave, until their slave owner decided they were not, even if they escaped to a free state.
In the Montana Ballot Initiative, voters decided that the mother of the unborn child truly owns the unborn child. It is up to her to decide whether her child will be free or not, in this case, whether they will be born alive or not. Interestingly, this argument has been brought up in a recent one The New York Times opinion piece by Jamelle Bouie.
While Bouie is decidedly pro-choice, I find myself agreeing with the premise of his argument.
This is basically it. Our country fought the Civil War because we realized that on such fundamental questions as the personhood of the people, we could not have a country where some states were slave states and some were not. This is an issue that needs to be handled by the federal government. Either we are all free or all are slaves.
This question inspired Abraham Lincoln’s famous quote, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” Bouie then drew a parallel to how abortion laws played out in the states afterward Roe v. Wade is reversed. We have some pro-choice states and some pro-life states. Bouie argues, and I agree, that this system is unsustainable.
At some point, on the issue of human dignity, personhood, and the rights of the unborn, our nation as a whole has to come down on one side or the other. But this is where we part ways. He, a black man, descends on the mother’s side in his right to bodily autonomy. He draws a parallel between the slave of 1865 and the pregnant woman of 2023.
He believes that for both of those people, our country needs to give them the bodily autonomy they deserve. So, abortion should be legal everywhere.
I see something different.
For me, the correct parallel in the drawing is between the slave and the unborn child. Why? Because slavery was a system that said blacks were not human and therefore did not deserve the rights that come with being human.
Today, many in our country have made the same determination for unborn children when it comes to abortion. The unborn are not persons and therefore have no rights.
So, they can be legally aborted by their owners, by their mothers. I am disappointed that this writer sided with the powerful when his freedom was possible and surely my ancestors made sure by rejecting the idea that only the powerful should decide who counts as human.
Today, the power brokers in the multi-billion dollar abortion industry and their allies in the federal and state governments have decided that the unborn are not human beings.
This is not so different from slave owners like Dred Scott’s owner and their allies on the Supreme Court who decided that Dred Scott could not be a person. I hope that as our nation becomes more aware of the parallels between slavery and abortion, we recognize the personhood of the unborn.
The 14th Amendment to the Constitution states that all persons are entitled to equal protection under the law. It gave the slaves their freedom. It is time we apply this to the unborn as well.
Only then will they get the justice they deserve. Until next time, may God bless you every day as you faithfully serve Him.
