The Next Civil Rights Movement

Once upon a time, there was a certain class of human beings in our society who did not count as real persons. They were not included in population or demographic figures. This country was founded upon the rights to life, liberty, and property for every individual, yet somehow that did not include them. And some people felt not the slightest shame in witnessing their death at the hands of another.

These people were slaves. Thankfully, that time in American history has passed. And while there remains racial bigotry in American life, the laws of our states and of our nation seek to protect members of every race in an equal and unbiased manner. Yesterday we celebrated a national holiday in honor of a black man who sought a permanent, comprehensive, and ubiquitous equality for all.

Yet now, in this day and age, there is another class of human beings who are still treated with even greater cruelty than the slaves. They are the unborn. They also are not included in population counts. They also are denied the rights upon which this nation was founded. They also are killed with little or no shame. And while slavery was tolerated in only some of our nation’s states, abortion is tolerated in every single one.

It is astounding to me that the people in our society who are so forceful in seeking ‘equal rights’, for blacks, for women, for homosexuals, for criminals, for immigrants, for enemies, are usually also the most forceful in resisting rights for the unborn. They believe it takes a village, not a family, to raise a child. Yet they trust the individual to make the decision on whether the child is born. Correctly considered, right-to-life is a liberal position. And like all other liberal positions, it demands the force of government to overrule the decision of the individual.

Indeed, I am a Burkean conservative. I believe that individuals, their families, and the free-association institutions they build with like-minded people in their local communities, should make almost every decision in life, with no decision forced on another. But there is a limit. I believe that man has no dignity without respecting at least some basic rights for every fellow man. And the right of life is first among these. And no state, no city, no community, no family, no individual shall be free to disassociate from the whole and extinguish that right.

What does that mean? It means that not only must Roe v. Wade be overturned. This would allow each state to permit abortion to continue. There must be an amendment to the United States Constitution defending the right to life of every unborn child. For would it be justice to simply revoke a constitutional right, a right which never even existed, for any person in any state to own a slave, yet let any state permit such ownership? We would only be where we were when slavery was permitted in half the country, yet not the other half. Was the nation not right to demand emancipation in every corner of the land?

Slavery was abolished in this country 143 years ago. Millions of people who are descendent from those who fought for its abolition still feel the guilt of how the country could have endured so long with such an ugly practice. How could this have ended so long ago, while all the progress of a century and a half has yet to free the unborn? Much of the abhorrence of slavery was the recognition that these were people, as real as any family or friend: you could see them toil, you could hear them talk, you could look them in the eye. Perhaps it has been this that is lacking in our relation with the unborn. But just as improved transportation and communication in the 19th century brought more people in touch with slaves, modern science is changing our relation with the unborn. We can feel their movements, we can hear their sounds, we can almost look into their eyes. And one day we will think, My God, how could we have waited so long?