Abortion and Slavery

I am not the first to make the comparison between abortion and slavery. But since we just elected the first African-American President of the United States, something all Americans can and should celebrate, it seems fitting to revisit this historical juxtaposition.

The moral consequences of abortion threaten the soul of our nation as slavery did before and during the Civil War period. If the sort of arguments favoring abortion and a woman's right to choose won the day during Lincoln's Presidency, we might never have elected the first African-American President. For every rationalization you hear in favor of abortion, try inserting slavery. For example,

"Let's keep slavery safe, legal and rare."

"I'm not pro-slavery, but I do want to preserve a slave owner's right to choose how he runs his plantation."

“I am personally opposed to slavery, but I don’t want to impose my values on somebody else.”

“Slavery is a privacy matter protected by our Constitution.”

"The slave is really not a person."

Chills run up and down my spine as I type those sentences. Doesn't the final outcome of the Civil War mean we reject these and other barbaric rationalizations about slavery once and for all? But history always thratens to repeat itself. Frankly, we didn’t learn as much from the Civil War as we think we did.

I experience déjà vu all over again when comparing the Dred Scott decision made by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1857 and Roe vs. Wade in 1973. In a landmark case, the Supreme Court handed down the dreadful 7-2 ruling that said black people were not legal “persons” according to the U. S. Constitution. No person of African ancestry could claim U.S. citizenship, including a black person living in a free state.

At that time in our nation's history a slave was the property of its owner and could be bought, sold, used, and discarded however the owner decided. Yes, that was the law in a place known as the land of the free and the home of the brave. Today, we are rightly embarrassed and ashamed about this dark chapter in American history.

Eventually, Americans rejected and overturned the flawed Dred Scott decision made by the Supreme Court. We have yet to come to the same conclusion about Roe vs. Wade. We can only pray that hope is on the way.

Consider Lincoln's own logic about slavery,

You say A. is white, and B. is black. It is color, then; the lighter, having the right to enslave the darker? Take care. By this rule, you are to be slave to the first man you meet, with a fairer skin than your own."

You do not mean color exactly? You mean the whites are intellectually the superiors of the blacks, and, therefore have the right to enslave them? Take care again. By this rule, you are to be slave to the first man you meet, with an intellect superior to your own."

But, say you, it is a question of interest; and, if you can make it your interest; you have the right to enslave another. Very well. And if he can make it his interest, he has the right to enslave you.

The Obama image-makers are working hard to draw comparisons between Barack Obama and Abraham Lincoln. On his final road to the White House, the President-Elect boarded a train at the 30th Street Station in Philadelphia and began a whistle-stop tour in the likeness of Lincoln who passed through America’s birthplace and first capital on his way to his inauguration in 1861.

President-Elect Obama is also using Lincoln’s Bible as he takes the oath of office, a first among U.S. Presidents since the great emancipator. Afterwards, he and his family will move into the house that slaves built. I can only raise my voice, hope, and pray that our new President adopts Lincoln’s values with regard to justice for all, including for the unborn.