From The American Thinker:
March 06, 2011
The Generation That Will End Abortion
By Peter Heck
It's more than a feeling. Events that have unfolded the last several months have convinced me that this will be the generation that brings an end to the practice of legalized abortion in the United States. Historically speaking, our escape from this draconian and barbaric ritual of child killing was inevitable. Ours is a country that has always been engaged in a perpetual struggle to live up to the eternal truths of our founding creed: that all men are endowed by God with inalienable rights.
In the dark moments of our past, we have experienced the betrayal of those timeless principles by the self-serving interests of a few. The same moral confusion that once paved the infamous Trail of Tears, supported the slave auction block and inspired the angry lynch mobs, now leads some to believe that they can choose to exterminate small, unplanned or inconvenient children.
So what convinces me that we are arriving at our most recent point of deliverance? Several factors do. First, we are finally beginning to address the real issue of whether the infant in the womb is human or not. This has always been the only question that matters.
During oral arguments in the 1973 landmark case of Roe v. Wade, Justice Potter Stewart demonstrated as much. He asked Attorney Sarah Weddington who was arguing for abortion rights, "If it were established that an unborn fetus is a person, you would have an almost impossible case here, would you not?" Weddington audibly laughed as she was forced to acknowledge, "I would have a very difficult case." Stewart pushed further by positing, "This would be the equivalent to after the child was born...if the mother thought it bothered her health having the child around, she could have it killed. Isn't that correct?" Weddington sheepishly granted, "That's correct."
This shocking exchange is what prompted the author of the seminal Roe ruling, Harry Blackmun, to write in the majority opinion, "[If the] suggestion of personhood is established, the case, of course, collapses, for the fetus' right to life is then guaranteed specifically by the [14th] Amendment."
Yet despite this being the critical linchpin holding the heinous premise of abortion rights together, we have spent years in the wilderness debating ultrasound laws, parental consent forms and taxpayer subsidies -- a confused approach that has yielded a 38 year holocaust in the name of convenience. This finally is beginning to dawn on our elected leaders. At a press conference last month, U.S. Representative Trent Franks stated bluntly, "Ladies and gentlemen, if abortion really does kill a baby, then in this, the seat of freedom, we are living in the midst of the greatest human genocide in the history of humanity." That conclusion may be difficult for our American pride to admit, but it illuminates a painful truth that can refocus our attention where it should be: our national commitment to defending the inalienable rights of all men.
In addition to this cultural reawakening, recent events have lifted the veil on the macabre realities of the abortion world. The horrific stories that emerged from late-term abortionist Kermitt Gosnell's clinic a few months ago may have shocked the conscience of average Americans. But what was most frightening was that leading "pro-choice" advocates could offer little more than a condemnation of Gosnell's sanitation policies. After all, the actual practice of mutilating children with scissors is a "procedure" they consider legitimate. Looking at the images of severed body parts in jars, sane Americans realized there was something amiss far more than just a poor janitorial staff.
Then came the recent billboard wars in New York City. After a pro-life group put up an ad featuring a little black girl beneath the bold words, "The most dangerous place for an African-American is in the womb," abortion rights activists came unglued. While they predictably railed against the campaign as an attack on family planning, astute citizens recognized what they were not doing was denying the truth of the billboard's message. And there's a reason for that: three out of every five black children in New York City are killed by abortionists.
This systemic refusal to deal in facts is all we should expect from a movement whose standard bearer is Planned Parenthood. Multiple hidden camera stings have revealed the unbridled deceit that characterizes the organization, further driving a wedge between the abortion crowd and Americans of conscience. After being caught flagrantly thwarting the law to conceal abusive prostitution rings, statutory rape violations and an underage sex slave operation, Planned Parenthood's leadership didn't demand immediate internal investigations to clean up their act. No, they mused about suing Lila Rose and her organization Live Action Films who exposed them.
All this trickery, misdirection, obfuscation and corruption within the so-called "pro-choice" movement are causing an increasingly large number of Americans to reassess their position on the issue. That, coupled with a reinvigorated pro-life movement infused with a youthful energy and a refocused approach that addresses humanness rather than politics, convinces me that the day is fast approaching when our society finds the moral courage to end the killing.
When we do, our generation will have made its most influential contribution to America's 222 year old pursuit of a more perfect union.
Peter is a public high school government teacher and radio talk show host in central Indiana. Email peter@peterheck.com or visit www.peterheck.com.
March 06, 2011
The Generation That Will End Abortion
By Peter Heck
It's more than a feeling. Events that have unfolded the last several months have convinced me that this will be the generation that brings an end to the practice of legalized abortion in the United States. Historically speaking, our escape from this draconian and barbaric ritual of child killing was inevitable. Ours is a country that has always been engaged in a perpetual struggle to live up to the eternal truths of our founding creed: that all men are endowed by God with inalienable rights.
In the dark moments of our past, we have experienced the betrayal of those timeless principles by the self-serving interests of a few. The same moral confusion that once paved the infamous Trail of Tears, supported the slave auction block and inspired the angry lynch mobs, now leads some to believe that they can choose to exterminate small, unplanned or inconvenient children.
So what convinces me that we are arriving at our most recent point of deliverance? Several factors do. First, we are finally beginning to address the real issue of whether the infant in the womb is human or not. This has always been the only question that matters.
During oral arguments in the 1973 landmark case of Roe v. Wade, Justice Potter Stewart demonstrated as much. He asked Attorney Sarah Weddington who was arguing for abortion rights, "If it were established that an unborn fetus is a person, you would have an almost impossible case here, would you not?" Weddington audibly laughed as she was forced to acknowledge, "I would have a very difficult case." Stewart pushed further by positing, "This would be the equivalent to after the child was born...if the mother thought it bothered her health having the child around, she could have it killed. Isn't that correct?" Weddington sheepishly granted, "That's correct."
This shocking exchange is what prompted the author of the seminal Roe ruling, Harry Blackmun, to write in the majority opinion, "[If the] suggestion of personhood is established, the case, of course, collapses, for the fetus' right to life is then guaranteed specifically by the [14th] Amendment."
Yet despite this being the critical linchpin holding the heinous premise of abortion rights together, we have spent years in the wilderness debating ultrasound laws, parental consent forms and taxpayer subsidies -- a confused approach that has yielded a 38 year holocaust in the name of convenience. This finally is beginning to dawn on our elected leaders. At a press conference last month, U.S. Representative Trent Franks stated bluntly, "Ladies and gentlemen, if abortion really does kill a baby, then in this, the seat of freedom, we are living in the midst of the greatest human genocide in the history of humanity." That conclusion may be difficult for our American pride to admit, but it illuminates a painful truth that can refocus our attention where it should be: our national commitment to defending the inalienable rights of all men.
In addition to this cultural reawakening, recent events have lifted the veil on the macabre realities of the abortion world. The horrific stories that emerged from late-term abortionist Kermitt Gosnell's clinic a few months ago may have shocked the conscience of average Americans. But what was most frightening was that leading "pro-choice" advocates could offer little more than a condemnation of Gosnell's sanitation policies. After all, the actual practice of mutilating children with scissors is a "procedure" they consider legitimate. Looking at the images of severed body parts in jars, sane Americans realized there was something amiss far more than just a poor janitorial staff.
Then came the recent billboard wars in New York City. After a pro-life group put up an ad featuring a little black girl beneath the bold words, "The most dangerous place for an African-American is in the womb," abortion rights activists came unglued. While they predictably railed against the campaign as an attack on family planning, astute citizens recognized what they were not doing was denying the truth of the billboard's message. And there's a reason for that: three out of every five black children in New York City are killed by abortionists.
This systemic refusal to deal in facts is all we should expect from a movement whose standard bearer is Planned Parenthood. Multiple hidden camera stings have revealed the unbridled deceit that characterizes the organization, further driving a wedge between the abortion crowd and Americans of conscience. After being caught flagrantly thwarting the law to conceal abusive prostitution rings, statutory rape violations and an underage sex slave operation, Planned Parenthood's leadership didn't demand immediate internal investigations to clean up their act. No, they mused about suing Lila Rose and her organization Live Action Films who exposed them.
All this trickery, misdirection, obfuscation and corruption within the so-called "pro-choice" movement are causing an increasingly large number of Americans to reassess their position on the issue. That, coupled with a reinvigorated pro-life movement infused with a youthful energy and a refocused approach that addresses humanness rather than politics, convinces me that the day is fast approaching when our society finds the moral courage to end the killing.
When we do, our generation will have made its most influential contribution to America's 222 year old pursuit of a more perfect union.
Peter is a public high school government teacher and radio talk show host in central Indiana. Email peter@peterheck.com or visit www.peterheck.com.
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