The other night I was watching an interview with Bill O’Reilly and the editor of Salon Magazine, Joan Walsh. She was asked her thoughts regarding the murder of the abortion doctor, Dr. Tiller. Like any thinking person she rightly denounced the murder. After her denouncement, however, O’Rielly, probed her further regarding what she thought of him as a person. Shockingly, she deemed a hero. That is an interesting comment from someone in her position. Dr. Tiller, a Mengelaesque character, has performed hundreds of late term abortions.

How can a procedure so obviously heinous be accepted by so many people? The problem is how the debate is framed. Feminists and Leftist have framed the debate in such a way as to vilify those who want to protect life, and at the same time position themselves as being ones who are protecting the rights of women. Unfortunately, even liberal Christians, like Christians of old who supported slavery over a hundred years ago, are now helping to further the abortion cause. In this blog I would like to look at two significant court cases that I believe to be of crucial importance when framing this debate.

The first court case is the Dred-Scott case. In this case the court held that Scott, who had moved with his master from a slave state to a free state, had no right to sue for his freedom. It was thought that Africans had no rights under the US Constitution. Whether they were slaves or free did not matter. It was further ruled that neither Congress nor territorial governments had the authority to prohibit slavery in the territories. What this decision did was give government approval to white supremacy. There were even conservative denominations backing such a deplorable law.

Today, such an act in America would be denounced by Whites and Blacks alike because the stigma of white supremacy has been firmly established, and rightly so, in this country. It would be unthinkable to vote for someone who would say that the decision reached in the Dred-Scott case should be upheld. No one would think of asking, “I know that he advocates White Supremacy, but what are his views on other issues like the economy, the War in Iraq, etc. For today’s voter, it wouldn’t matter because that candidate has already confirmed that a certain group of people were less than human and did not have a right of self-determination.

The second court case is of course Roe vs. Wade.  “The central holding of Roe v. Wade was that abortions are permissible for any reason a woman chooses, up until the point at which the fetus becomes ‘viable,’ that is, potentially able to live outside the mother's womb, albeit with artificial aid.” The rationale is that an unborn baby is not fully human, and therefore, has no constitutional protection under the law. It is relegated to a mere blob of tissue and can be disposed of for any reason the mother chooses. As a Christian, it would be very difficult to arrive at such a view. The Bible it very clear that God is the author of human life and the Bible affirms that life begins at conception. This being so, from a Christian perspective, there is no fundamental difference between a mother disposing of a child, whether it be prenatal or postnatal.

Unfortunately this stigma of this horrific act has not been established in America. The left in general and the feminist movement and Planned Parenthood in particular has made sure that the pro-abortion position is presented in such a way that people would have a favorable outlook on the position. Arguments such as a woman’s right to choose, or so called reproductive rights are thrown out a somehow being rational arguments.  What has been amazing is that the founder of Planned Parenthood, Margret Sanger, promoted the idea of race hygiene, and the fundamental way for that to happen was through abortion. Yet, Planned Parenthood is still a respected institution by many in American society. The reason why the pro-abortionist has been successful is because they have framed the debate in such a way so the central question is never addressed, namely whether the baby in the womb is a living person or not.

It is my prayer that millions in America would rethink their position, and look at this issue rationally. We can’t afford to have another fifty million babies murdered.