“The greatest destroyer of peace is abortion because if a mother can kill her own child, what is left for me to kill you and you to kill me? There is nothing between.” Mother Teresa (https://www.catholic.org/clife/teresa/quotes.php, accessed 8-26-2024)

It’s interesting how similar the issues of slavery and abortion are.

Both slavery and abortion have been approved by the US Supreme Court. In its 1857 Dred Scott v Sanford decision, the Court ruled that people of African descent “are not included, and were not intended to be included, under the word ‘citizens’ in the Constitution, and can therefore claim none of the rights and privileges which that instrument provides for and secures to citizens of the United States.”

The Dred Scott decision was superseded in 1865 when the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments to the US Constitution were passed.

In the same way abortion was initially ruled to be constitutional by the US Supreme Court in its 1973 Roe v Wade decision. Unborn children could not claim any of the rights and privileges of US citizens. Later, in its 2022 Dobbs decision, the Court ruled that there is not a constitutional right to abortion.

Both issues involve treating one segment of humanity as less than human. Slavery involves one person having complete control over another person. The same was true when abortion was legal in our country. A pregnant woman had complete control over her unborn child. Neither slaves or unborn children had any legal standing as citizens in our country. Although slaves were eventually set free and abortion is no longer considered constitutional, there is still no legal status for unborn children in this country.

Those of us on the life-affirming side of this issue struggle to understand how unborn children have no legal protection under the laws of this country while the unborn of some animals are protected by law. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 protects the eggs and other parts of 1,100 species of migratory birds.

Slavery literally divided our country and resulted in the Civil War. Abortion, too, has divided our country for a long time. There may not be a Civil War fought over abortion but the people on either side of the issue are both very committed to their causes. I pray that someday all people will come to see abortion as abhorrent as slavery.

Up Next: A future with no children