“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” This famous phrase comes from none other than our nation’s founding document, the Declaration of Independence. When read, it makes it clear that this nation was founded on basic inalienable rights, given to all. Life, liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. It is by these powerful words that our nation stands.
The first of these three words is Life, showing that the concept of a right to life is in fact a founding principle of our nation.
As our nation entered 2013, we have arrived at a very sad and tragic anniversary, the 40th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, which legalized abortion under what the Supreme Court believed to be a “right to privacy.” Yet, this decision violates all of Jefferson’s inalienable rights.
When children are killed in the womb, the right to life is clearly stripped. In order to have any liberties at all, life must be protected and preserved. Without a protection of life, there are no liberties that can be granted and preserved for the people, as liberty hangs on the notion that life will be revered and protected. Finally, the pursuit of happiness is stripped when lives are not even given a chance and are killed while still in a mother’s womb. Since 1973, an estimated 50 million lives of babies have been ended while in their mothers’ wombs. That is 50 million lives that were denied the inalienable rights to not only life, but also to liberty and the pursuit of happiness. In short, in the last 40 years, 50 million children, roughly one-sixth of the population of the US, have been denied their right to live because their lives were taken from them through abortion.
According to the Free Online Dictionary, murder is “The unlawful killing of one human by another, especially with premeditated malice.” A definition of the verb murder is also given by the same website, which is “To put an end to; destroy.” If only one word is taken away from both of these definitions, then it is clear that abortion is murder. That word appears in the first definition, and it is “unlawful.” When you take that word out, it is clear that abortion is murder, and thus should be unlawful in the United States, just as killing those who have already been born is considered murder. Once life is formed, why do we as a society believe that it is okay to kill children while in the mother’s womb, but not okay to immediately afterwards? In one word, it is hypocrisy.
Many supporters of pro-choice and pro-abortion legislation and rulings, including Roe v. Wade, claim that making abortion illegal is a detriment to women’s rights, and rights to their bodies. This is simply a lie. In fact, the true destruction of women’s rights takes place in those lives that have been cut short by abortion. Assuming that about half of those children aborted were females, that’s 25 million females destroyed because their mother had “a right to.” The other argument, that abortion limits a woman’s right to her own body, is also invalid. During pregnancy, there is one life living inside another. Although the fetus is inside of the mother, the fetus is not part of the mother. The fetus is its own unique life. One illustration of this is stated by National Right to Life: a child’s heart begins to beat with its own blood, often a different type from that of the mother, only three weeks after conception. As seen, after only three weeks, when there is a good chance the mother does not even realize that she is yet pregnant, the baby is already pumping its own blood. If pro-choice advocates really believed in a “rights to one’s owns body,” then they would be forced to respect the rights of those bodies that are still developing in the womb.
Like stated, the real women’s rights and health issues in abortion deal with those young female, as well as male lives, destroyed, not even given a chance at life.
“I wanted to meet (her) mostly to see if she was OK and to thank her, because I’m glad I didn’t end up as an abortion,” he said. “She was 23 and she went through a lot to have me.” This statement was from a man who was extraordinarily grateful that his mother chose not to abort him, even though her situation was an extremely difficult one. Through the hardship, the mother decided to have her baby delivered, rather than killing him before birth. Afterwards, she decided to give the baby up for adoption, so even if she could not give the baby a good life, she would still give him a chance at life. That very quotation above comes from none other than Steve Jobs. Often called “the Einstein of our time,” Jobs went on to begin a legacy that many of us in our technological world could not live without. Just imagine how it would be if Job’s mother made a different choice.
Because Jobs was born before Roe v. Wade, abortion was not yet legal. Now, think of all those like Jobs that could have been if not for Roe v. Wade. Who knows what other Steve Jobs could have been born out of those 50 million that were given up on, that weren’t even given a shot at life. And finally, think about yourself. If you are reading this and a student at TCNJ, most likely you were born after abortion were made legal. What if your parents made a different, yet legal decision? When pondering this frightful proposition, it makes it clear that abortion is not only wrong, it is murder. When one takes an innocent life, this is murder. Legalized abortion is simply discriminating against children who have not yet been born, discrimination which is outlawed by the 14th Amendment under the Equal Protection Clause.
To conclude, ponder these words by a famous politician. “If there’s even one life that can be saved, then we’ve got an obligation to try.” This was stated by none other than President Barack Obama. If we truly believe these words, then we have an obligation to try to make all murder of all children illegal.
