The upcoming elections rhetoric is highlighting the divide over abortion in our country. There are three basic positions on this issue: it should always be allowed, it should only be allowed under certain circumstances, and it should never be allowed.
Democrats, in general, favor the minority position that it should always be legal. Republicans, in general, favor the majority position that it should be legal only under certain circumstances. But some Republicans still do favor the other minority position that it should never be legal.
President Biden is making abortion the cornerstone of his campaign. He has supported abortion by pushing for public and military funding for it during his presidency and is getting more rabid about it.
Recently, our “Catholic” President crossed himself while he was “listening to Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Nikki Fried slam her state’s pro-life law.” In his own speech immediately following Fried’s, he pushed for a constitutional right to allow abortion at any stage of a pregnancy. He crafts the pro-life narrative as a threat to freedom. In so doing, he blatantly disregards the faith he so publicly professes.
On the other side, pro-life Republicans are altering their message to get votes. An example is former President Trump’s statements about leaving it up to the states to decide the legality of abortion. Likewise, there are disagreements by pro-life politicians as to the number of weeks to allow abortions, what should be exceptions, etc.
All this appears to be in response to recent state elections and to abortion surveys. Seven state elections/referendums, including several “red” states since the Dobbs decision, have upheld or established the legality of abortion. In some instances, states have even enshrined abortion in their constitutions.
Survey Results
Recent Gallup poll surveys provide the most disturbing trends. A record-high 69% say abortion should generally be legal in the first three months of pregnancy with 37% saying it should be legal in the second three months and 22% in the last three months. These trends are reflective of the finding that 52% of Americans say abortion is morally acceptable.
With those numbers it’s no wonder the political results are supportive of abortion. In turn, Planned Parenthood reported a 5% increase in abortions this past year.
The above attitudes and voting patterns regarding abortion illustrate that the will of the people appears to support abortion. But the majority “will of the people” is ignoring the “right to life.”
While the Dobbs decision was a victory to overturn Roe v Wade, it also mobilized the pro-abortion sentiment in this country. It reflects serious challenges to the pro-life movement, especially in the political realm.
Politicians are pandering to a perceived “will of the people” and are allowing abortion to gain votes.
Lessons from history
As a history buff, I always like to look for historical parallels to current issues. The controversy over slavery in the 1850s, I think, provides some insight.
Stephen Douglas, who is well known for his debate with Lincoln, advocated for what he called “popular sovereignty.” This is similar to both Trump’s position and the Dobbs decision to leave the abortion issue up to the states.
Douglas didn’t think slavery was a moral issue but rather a states’ rights issue. As such, he sponsored the Kansas Nebraska Act of 1854. This Act left it up the voters in each state to decide whether or not slavery would be legal in the state. Lincoln, on the other hand, thought the federal government should decide the issue of slavery.
Needless to say, the Kansas Nebraska Act just delayed the Civil War. Bowing to public sentiment to gain support, Lincoln initially emphasized that the Civil War was a cause aimed at preserving the union. It wasn’t until the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 that slavery became a major reason to continue fighting.
Many historians contend that Lincoln, the politician, recognized that the public will was not there to overturn slavery until later in the war. (see The President and the Freedom Fighter: Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, and Their Battle to Save America’s Soul. by Brian Kilmeade).
The history of the slavery issue reminds us that legal and political remedies to curtail abortion may have limited effectiveness if the will of the people is to support abortion. The rationale that pro-abortion advocates project – freedom of choice, women’s rights, necessary “health care,” etc. – is resonating with the public, as the surveys and voting patterns indicate.
So we are in an 1850s situation once again. It’s okay to have abortion in some states but not in others.
A Moral issue
But this hypocrisy is blatant. It’s ironic that even liberal and anti-Catholic talk show host Bill Maher acknowledged that it’s absurd that abortion be allowed in some states and not in others. He admitted that abortion “is a kind of murder,” but even given that, he is okay with it. And there you have it – pro-abortion advocates admit that abortion is murder, yet they think it is acceptable.
The false narrative that it is an issue of women’s rights, health care, freedom of choice or a women’s control over her body has so strongly influenced public opinion that murder is being condoned.
Referring back to the slavery issue, the abolitionists continued to focus their messaging on the immorality of slavery for many years. Gradually the political will grew to outlaw the practice. I think that is where we are today.
The Messenger role
Pro-life politicians may not always support a full ban on abortion. They may think it necessary to try to get legislation incrementally. This may be because they have to deal with the practical realities of getting elected in a pro-abortion culture.
Taking a lesson from the 1800’s abolitionists, I believe our role as pro-life citizens is to continually message the immorality of abortion. We can’t expect the politicians to make pro-life legislation if the will of the people is not ready. Our job is to make them ready.
I think it is time to be blunter about abortion. It is the killing of a human being. I know that can sound harsh but from a moral standpoint “it is what it is.” It is an intrinsically evil and immoral act.
Nowhere in this country are there state or federal laws that allow murder. I suspect that most Americans concur that murder should not be allowed. However, it appears there are some who even though they recognize it is murder think it is “okay.”
As highlighted in a previous post , the pro-abortion arguments for abortion must be confronted with the truth about what abortion really is – the murder of an innocent human being. In turn, the pro-abortion position goes against a morality that has been accepted throughout the ages that murder is not “okay.”
“Preach the truth as if you had a million voices. It is silence that kills the world.” – Catherine of Siena
We need to keep witnessing for this in our prayer vigils, marches, and in day-to-day conversations. Our priests need to continually convey this message from the pulpit. We need to support the Knights of Columbus and 40 Days for Life highly visible pro- life efforts to spread the message.
Support for Mothers
Likewise, to confront the false narrative that pro-lifers don’t care about women or expectant mothers, we need to convey the message that there is a whole support system to aid mothers. In turn, we need to physically and financially support the over 3,000 crisis pregnancy centers in the United States that are ready, able, and willing to support pregnant women.
At the same time, there is a need to have compassion for women who have had an abortion. The USCCB notes in its document on post abortion healing, that Pope John Paul II’s encyclical letter Evangelium Vitae, (the Gospel of Life), expands on the need to provide understanding and reconciliation for those who have experienced an abortion.
10 thoughts on “Abortion Politics and the ‘Will of the People’”
Rather than abolitionism, I suspect that the proper historical analogy is alcohol prohibition. Advocates of alcohol prohibition believed passionately in their cause, and through almost superhuman effort and sacrifice got it constitutionalized. The problem was that, over time, a majority of the population rejected the prohibitionist position, making it impossible to enforce. You have to be very cautious when you try to adopt measures against the majority will.
This is where States rights come in. I don’t think Texas, Tennessee, Alabama, Indiana, the Dakotas and so on should be forced for abortion to be available. Oh, yes, and there are still dry counties in the US as to your bit on prohibition. At the least, why not let community standards decide? Some states look rather trashy with their lenient laws.
Prohibition? Comparing that to Genocide? Sick.
The Communist Democrat party, historic home to Jim Crow and the Ku Klux Klan would erase women too.
We must all band together to fight this evil.
Capt Crisis.
You do bring up an important issue. The commission of any crime throughout history has always had an associated consequence – punishment or retribution. If abortion is murder then what should be the consequences? I admit there is not an easy answer.
A ban on abortion at any stage does raise the question of consequences. Criminalizing abortion baits that question. If so, how do we treat the perpetrator (abortionist, drug prescriber) and the mother since there is a mutual consent to the procedure?. How do we use penalties to deter abortion which is the ultimate goal?
If not, then how do we treat the act? I would suggest that most pro-lifers do not want to send mothers to jail. My faith tells me to be compassionate, understanding and forgiving. However, how is that to be balanced against the notion of justice for the killing of an innocent human being?
The calling of abortion as murder is calling it for it really is. Confucius advised that the beginning of wisdom, “is to call things by their proper name.” It is intended to make people think and hopefully change their hearts. In the meantime, abortion bans can aid in getting the attention of pregnant women considering abortion to choose life.
The purpose of a criminal consequence is either punishment, retribution or deterrence. Crimes that involve the death of someone have a multitude of classifications and a wide discretion of consequences.
Currently, as I discussed in the essay, I don’t believe that the majority in this country, including most pro-lifers would support strict criminal consequences. That is why the messaging of abortion as the killing of an innocent life to influence decisions is so important. Such messaging, education and the seeking of bans on government support of abortion are all necessary.
The resolution to this is a work in progress.
Thank you for your respectful response.
However given that they have had decades to think about this. it’s strange that pro-lifers have not decided what would be the consequences if “abortion is murder” finally gets enshrined into law. After shouting about it for so long –murder is, of course, the most grave charge in any legal system — you’d think they would have some kind of plan when their dream finally sees the light of day.
I don’t think criminalizing abortion is the answer. The best solution — unfortunately lost in the haze of current polarization — was given by Bill Clinton: “Abortion should be safe, legal — and rare.”
Republicans are being forced into the real world where Biden and the rest of us (66% of Americans, according to one poll) live, and where the hypocrisy and contradictions of the pro-life position can no longer be hidden. It is simply not possible to ban IVF (endorsed by Pope John Paul) and late-term abortions, or monitor every woman who is using an IUD or a birth control pill to make sure there is no implantation before expulsion.
It is easy to ride your high horse and declare yourself pro-life. When I asked the above questions here, the writers either considered it offensive to even bring them up, or gave lame answers to a question such as what does a doctor do if he risks a murder charge by saving the baby’s life at the risk of the mother’s or a murder charge if he saves the life of the mother at the risk of the baby (one writer’s lame answer: “It will depend on the District Attorney’s discretion”).
Luke 11:46
Please provide your source for the comment that Pope John Paul endorsed IVF.
Nowadays, the majority of abortions are chemical, 60% or so if one is talking about graphic images of abortion, the playing field has changed a bit. Add in, sadly, Walgreen’s and CVS deciding to sell the chemical abortion pills.
Now, abortion is illegal in a number of states. It’s a struggle, we must dedicate ourselves to defend life in whatever stage it may be.
Armed with no more than semantics and logic, completely unbiased in any way, it is very easy to segue the definition, ‘murder’, into another common event that has not only the same lethal end but with repercussions far more heinous, pervasive and world changing. The ‘right’ of a mother to choose is in no way fundamentally different than the ‘right’ of parents to bring children into the world with the same, deferred, terminal end. What is more obvious and apparent is the presumptuous mindset of parents that besides bringing them into a roiling world of war, disease, murder, rape, abortion – there must be a million threats – only hope is their shield. What should confound (for the sake of example) the catholic mind is that they are playing dice with a soul. Did Martin Luther lose his ? Better to cut off the hand, pluck out the eye, than lose ones soul, of which parents and the church have zero control. So, unless you believe that all souls (and bodies I hear) go to heaven, the crap shoot of bringing a person into this world is not so far removed from a charge of, at least manslaughter, before and after the fact.
Excellent essay!!!
We must prove the immorality of abortion before laws will be changed. This will come only after, as with slavery, people actually see the tragedy of abortion through pictures. Some say showing the ugly truth of the heinous harm abortion does to unborn babies is not appropriate and uncomfortable, but the truth is often uncomfortable. Show the photos, Share the testimony. Force people to see exactly what abortion does.
Abolitionists spent over 50 years fighting slavery. Our fight will take time as well.