A recent article in the Kansas City Star criticized Kansas governor Sam Brownback for comparing the current anti-abortionists to abolitionists. The author, Mary Sanchez, believes that abortion and slavery are very different. And she wants conservatives to stop invoking the slavery analogy. Here’s her conclusion:
Slavery was a brutal economic system. And the forces that benefited from it fought on well into the 20th century to maintain African-American peonage.
Abortion, whether you consider it permissible or not, is a personal dilemma, pitting the rights and welfare of a woman against the rights of the fetus she is carrying. Conception after rape or incest, pregnancies that risk the mother’s life, and extreme malformations of a fetus are some of the circumstances that can seriously complicate this dilemma.
The abortion question is not the slavery question. Abortion is not a crime against a class of people for the benefit of another. The zealots Brownback praised—and upon whom he no doubt depends in his upcoming election—are not doing their cause or the victims it claims to protect any good by pretending that this weak analogy holds. ((Emphasis added.))
Let’s look at Sanchez’s argument point by point:
1. Slavery was a brutal economic system. The assumption here is that abortion is not a brutal economic system. But it most certainly is. And many of the forces fighting for abortion today do so for economic reasons. Planned Parenthood, for instance, stands to lose billions of dollars if abortion is banned. You think they are lobbying for women’s rights out of the goodness of their hearts? No. According to One News:
Planned Parenthood’s latest annual report shows it performed a record number of abortions in the fiscal year 2011-2012 and received a record amount of taxpayer funding.
According to that report, Planned Parenthood performed 333,964 abortions during the 12-month period. That compares to 332,278 abortions in 2009 and 329,445 abortions in 2010—making a three-year toll of close to one-million abortions.
The report also indicates Planned Parenthood had a record year when it comes to funding from the government. An analysis done by the pro-life group, Susan B. Anthony List, shows the abortion provider received a record $542 million in taxpayer dollars by way of government grants, contracts, and Medicaid reimbursements.
That amounts to almost half of all Planned Parenthood’s budget.
Half of their budget? That means they have an annual budget of nearly a billion dollars. Don’t tell me abortion isn’t a brutal economic system. That argument doesn’t stand against the evidence.
2. Abortion is a personal dilemma. What does that even mean? By this argument, any crime could be considered a personal dilemma. Even slavery. It’s between a slave owner and his slaves. It’s about the property rights of a slave owner pitted against the human rights of his slave. When you consider that slaves didn’t have the capacity to take care of themselves most of the time and the North’s manufacturing economy depended on cheap cotton and cheap labor… those are just a few of the circumstances that can seriously complicate this personal dilemma. Whatever.
Abortion is not just a personal dilemma. It is a national dilemma, similar to slavery. If it were morally right to intervene in the “personal” relationship between slave owners and slaves to force an end to slavery, I fail to see why a similar moral reasoning would not hold in the case of abortion. If the unborn baby is a human life endowed with certain unalienable rights, then we cannot stand idly by while that life is extinguished.
By Sanchez’s argument, any action involving individuals would be a personal dilemma. Don’t outlaw murder. That’s just a personal dilemma pitting the rights of a murderer against the rights of his victim. We can’t intervene. Until when? Until that personal dilemma becomes a genocide or a holocaust? Well, we’re already there, Ms. Sanchez. Try 57 million unborn babies. Dead. That doesn’t sound like a personal dilemma.
3. Abortion is not a crime against a class of people for the benefit of another. Umm. Yes, it is. Obviously. There is a class of people in the United States who have basically no rights—unborn babies. And their deaths obviously benefit another class of people—mothers who want them dead for various reasons. Abortion is most obviously a crime against the class of the unborn for the benefit of their mothers. Did Sanchez even think about these premises before she wrote them down?
In conclusion, I think the moral reasoning behind the abolition movement holds for the anti-abortion movement. Sanchez has only confirmed that fact further. Does that excuse violence for the cause? Of course not. It didn’t excuse John Brown and it doesn’t excuse abortion clinic bombers or their ilk. But that doesn’t change the fact that the institution of slavery and the institution of abortion possess marked similarities. If anything, abortion is far worse. It needs to be ended. We all have its blood on our hands.
Agree with you Michael…. Abortion is far worst then slavery. Though slavery was not nice or “fun” for the slave, they did have a place to sleep, food, and a chance to live…. most probably had a chance to speak on its own behave if there was an issue. An unborn baby that is to be aborted, has a place to sleep and food before the abortion I guess, but will never have the chance to live outside the womb nor speak up for itself. That is a major failure to our society, it will be a black mark in our history until we as a nation gain back some of our morals.
Give them a chance to live and maybe they will be a big plus to society (not meaning the average person is not) but some examples of adopted children… that were not aborted:
Steve Jobs (Former Apple CEO),
Doctor Ruth (Sex Therapist, Radio Host),
Bill Clinton (Former US President),
Larry Ellison (Oracle CEO),
Malcom X (Civil Rights Leader),
Dave Thomas (Founder Of Wendy),
Nelson Mandela (Activist and Former Africa President),
John Lennon (Singer, Musician),
Edgar Allen Poe (Poet, Writer),
Leo Tolstoy (Writer),
Marilyn Monroe (Actress),
John Washington Carver (Inventor),
Nat King Cole (Singer),
Tim McGraw and Faith Hill (Country Singer),
Tommy Davidson (Comedian),
Bo Diddly (Musician),
Gerald Ford (Former US President),
Melissa Gilbert (Actress),
Scott Hamilton (Skater),
John Hancock (Politician),
Debbie Harry (Singer, Blondie),
Jesse Jackson (Minister),
Lee Majors (Actor),
Nancy Regan (First Lady),
Elenore Roosevelt (First Lady),
Colin Kaepernick 49ers QB,
and more….
What would the world be like if all these peoples mothers picked abortion over adoption. What a difference one letter can make to the world.
Murdered, not aborted
Your blog was so moving I posted it in my facebook. I gave the fact that it was copied and pasted by a blogger about abortion. You are awesome in your comment.
wow, not sure what to say other than thank you for the complement.
My goal is usually to make people laugh and/or think about a subject a little more deeply and sometime from a different point of view. Thank you again.
Your welcome. It should be noted it is for thinking.
I think you may have meant George Washington Carver?
Maybe, i just cut and pasted the list from a website. Guessing there is no John Washington Carver, but maybe there was…. I will have to look it up.
Supposed liberals champion both. And what’s with all type talk about slavery in the past tense? What do you think welfare and the projects are?
Of course one big difference that you DIMWITS overlook is abortion is a choice & slavery was not.
Abortion is murder, slavery isn’t, although it could lead to murder.
God knows and has always known us frombefor we were iin our mothers wombs he gave us choice he knows who will and wil not be born. He also states the only sin that will send you to hell is not believing in the Lord God and Jesus as your personall savior we do not suffer for others sin. Jesus did that for all of us that is why he was born and why he died new testement.
Respectfully, God gave us the ability to choose. We can choose good or we can choose evil. Without the ability to choose, there would be no right and wrong. We would be nothing more than biological robots operating from pre-programmed Divine will. God says that he sets before us life and death. The choice is ours.
Yes, murder is a choice .
Abort is not the right word, murder is the right word.
Hey blob, would you change your mind about abortion if i post some pictures of the body parts of aborted babies. Warning: such pictures are graphic and can make your stomach churn
No. Would you change your mind if you knew even the law of Moses didn’t Consider a fetus a person?
Btw, you know nothing bout religion. All you know is how to criticize it. You chose verses in the. Bible or any other religious book and use them for satanic porpoises.
Look up Jewish law. A fetus has never been considered a human in either the OT or NT. You Bible thumpers might know that if you actually read the bible
I do read the Bible i am in Luke chapter 22 now. If you are so into using the Bible for bad pourposes thats o.k. That you will burn in Hell. And women’s rights??? Women’s rights one big woman’s right is to fight for ending Abuse of Girls but instead od fighting aginst abuse , the Woman’s rights groups are fighting for murder. They should stand up for what is right. Of course, women who do these rights camaghns none of the things they do are right. They kill, instead of save. Why are the women’s rights groups fighting agianst life instead of fighting agiants child abuse??
I was foing to post a picture of a aborted baby butt he pictures i found were so graphic i fent like i was going to pass out if i loooked at them much less posted the pictures. If you want to see dead babies go to Google Images ans type in the keyword Dead Babies
Do be silly Bob. the Bible claims an unborn child as a person.
An angel visited her and explained to her that she would conceive a son by the power of the Holy Spirit. She would carry and give birth to this child and she would name him Jesus.
This is recognizing that baby that she will carry is the son of God and his name. It is recognizing the baby as a living humanbeing before the birth. Otherwise the child would not be named and they would not know if was to be a boy.
If you want to i will post pictures of aborted babies
Slavery is not a choice for the slave but it is a choice for the slave owner. abortion is not a choice for the baby, but it is a choice for the mother. So your example backs that they match and you are not wise enough to see that match. When will you wake up and smell the coffee Bob.
Slavery is not a choice for the slave but it is a choice for the slave
owner. abortion is not a choice for the baby, but it is a choice for
the mother. Its a great example of how they are the same.
You don’t like slavery? Then don’t own a slave!
Abortion = COLD BLOOD MURDER!!! God will punish the people who kill babies , especialy ones who kill for money. As much as the Liberals hate, there is no differance between stabbing a kid to death and killing a kid before it is born. Abortion is murder.
He will punish the entire nation for condoning it.
………..too bad we can’t legalize retroactive abortions…..I can think of some who might be on that list 🙂
Another concept that equates abortion and slavery is the fact that in both cases you determine that a class of person is less human than you are and not worthy of the same level of protection that you deserve. This puts abortion proponents in the same class as slavers, Nazi’s, or any other group that decides some humans are less worthy simply because they belong to some group. In this case that group is the unborn.
One comparison is that Democrats supported both. They never have believed in individual rights, and that hasn’t changed.
Look at CommieCare – Dear Leader and the democrat marxists are persecuting the Nuns, Catholic organizations and other groups .
Yes, one of them in inhumane and reflects a lack of respect of other people, and the other one is slavery.
Legalized abortion and sodomite marriage are possibly the two main reasons that the USA is now going down the toilet.
Another similarity between slavery and abortions is that slaves were able to be enslaved because they were deemed less than human (as were the Jews and other “undesirables” during the holocaust) How many times have you heard a baby in the womb referred to as a “fetus” or a “clump of cells” – implying that the baby in the womb is less than human.
Abortion advocates claim that the woman’s body is hers to do with and that she “owns’ whatever is inside her – thus making the baby in her womb mere property – as slaves were considered. So yes abortion is slavery
If a woman has the right to do with her body whatever she wants, why isn’t her suicide applauded? After all, it’s her body.
The murderer of such a mighty foe, as a baby, is not a brave person, that they choose only a baby to fight. This person is a slave of Satan and slavery is alive and well. There are millions of Satan’s slaves here killing our babies. Every one who sill not take a stand against abortion is a slave of Satan because GOD said , Thou shall not kill!” You cannot say, “It is not my business what they do with their children” is a slave of Satan.
Abortion is worse than slavery!!!!
The comparison makes no sense……after all a pregnancy can be simply avoided, it’s called birth control. Abortion, for the most part, is for people who lack that control; some cases require it. Birth control can be had for free at thousands of places nationwide. Birth control should be used before sex, not after. Everyone who is contemplating an abortion, should have to see one being done.
This is not a comparison so much as an off-the-wall concept.
Google “Two Minute Conservative,” http://adrianvance.blogspot.com and When you speak fine ladies will swoon and liberal gentlemen will weep.
Look at the facts:
1. Slavery, means literally the ownership of a human being, to do with whatever you please.
A: Kill then, by working them to death, or it they refuse to obey
2. Kill one’s baby because it’s unwanted, not convenient
Can you spot the difference, because many can not!
Please do NOT bother to tell us about blobs of cells, or anything like that, as no women has ever given birth to anything other than a human being, so even at the MOMENT of conception , WE ALL know a human being is under construction, right?
If a child is not wanted, the time to do something about is before, and not afterwards!
Only animals, who know not better, mate without thinking!
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