Jakubczyk on Life

The end of Roe

I have been reading a number of conservative blogs about the Alito hearings and every time the subject of Roe comes up there would be some comment about returning the decision making process to the people. The person will comment that prior to Roe the power to regulate abortion was left to the states. True statement. Then the person will explain that the abortion decision was a power grab by the Supreme Court. Also true. Then the writer will end by stating that overturning Roe will return it to the states. Here is where I get off the bus.

Prior to the 1973 decision, the laws concerning abortion rested with the state's police power, that is, the power of the state to regulate conduct that would harm another. Our criminal laws are considered reflections of the state's police powers. But does anyone reasonably believe that the state has the power to allow one group of people the power to kill another group of people. In discussing the issue of abortion, some people forget what an abortion does. For those who are unclear, let me remind you. An abortion kills an unborn child. The constitution, if it recognizes the right to life of the human person, cannot allow the states to permit the killing of another human being. Such an allowance would violate the 14th Amendment, both in the due process and equal protection clauses. Unlike the elusive right of privacy that seems to float in and out of the constitution depending on what day of the week it is, the right to life is specifically found in the 5th and 14th Amendments to the constitution.

Perhaps it is the weakness or fear of the people that prompt these writers to hedge their comments. Perhaps they have bought into the cannard that the people are all pro-choice. But I submit to you that if the American people got a steady dose of the truth about the life of the unborn child as well as the harm abortion does to women, they would abandon their apathetic attitudes and run the abortionists and their supporters out of town on a rail. Why am I so confident? Because deep down the American people really do care about their fellow human beings. Sure we can all get a little crusty and we are all selfish. We want to spend our time doing what we want to do. But when the chips are down, the American is there to lend a hand. Who had the generous heart when the Tsunami hit? Who has been helping the victims of Katrina? Who ached when the 12 miners were found to have died? Time and time again, when there is a need, Americans come to the aid of other countries. So why the lax attitude on abortion? Two factors - the media has never to told the truth about abortion. From the beginning, it has been a part of the big lie. The second factor is the disfunctional attitude that many in the country have about sex, children, and family. Call it a lack of formation. Call it a rebellion borne of a reaction to hypocrisy. The last 40 years have been a disaster for the American family. And we all know it. We know about the divorce rates, the out-of-wedlock pregnancies, the child abuse, the abandonment, and failure of men to be dads and fathers, and moms to put their children first, and therefore we do not want to judge anyone else.

We will laugh at the sitcoms, play the video games and go to the casinos to avoid dealing with out failures as a society.

Yet - when the crisis happens, the people will rally.

I see it in the young people. They are hungry for the truth. It is up to us to show them the way and allow them to take the lead. They are after all the survivors - the ones our generation did not kill.

So the next time you hear anyone suggest that the abortion issue be resolved at the state level, respond with the notion that some truths are self-evident - that all persons are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these is the right to life.

posted by Jakubczyk on Life @ 12:48 AM