Anniversary of Roe vs. Wade Offers Opportunity for Analysis

by Gordon Cooper

From Broader View Weekly, January 25, 2008

January 22, 2008 represents the 35th anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision. This decision, handed down on January 22, 1973 did as much to separate our nation as the Missouri Compromise did in March of 1820.

Just as the Missouri Compromise established the line of demarcation between the free and slave states (AKA the latitude 36 degrees 30 minutes), Roe established a gestational Mason-Dixon Line. The same type of irrational thinking that would not recognize a person as a living soul until his feet crossed the boundary between Maryland and Pennsylvania was used by Justice Blackmun when he categorically determined a human was not human until she or he survived the first trimester. We can only hope that wiser minds will soon prevail as they eventually did in those former days when our society suffered under a similar misconception.

Perhaps those saner days are closer than we think. A recent article investigated the current trend in Hollywood to accentuate the decision of many women to carry their baby to birth rather than follow the ‘easy’ way out (Knocked Up, Bella, Noelle, and Juno in film, and a recent episode of House on TV). While these films and TV shows fall short of condemning the poor choices made by the women that resulted in their untimely and unplanned pregnancies, they did however reaffirm that the babies were indeed babies.

According to this article, written by Lynn Vincent, the new technology that allows us to witness videos taken of a 24-day-old baby with a beating heart and recognizable body parts is changing hearts and minds of potential mothers. No longer can we deny the humanity of these young individuals. Just as the work of escaped and freed slaves such as Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman forced their fellow citizens to recognize their worth and humanity, the ultrasound images on refrigerators and emailed throughout our nation force us to realize that life begins at conception.

For us to use DNA evidence as proof of an individual’s individuality, we have to ask ourselves at what point that DNA becomes a part of our universe. The only conclusion we can reach is that the point of conception is that point. From that moment on the embryo is no longer a part of the woman, but is, in fact her/his own person. To state otherwise would be similar to Justice Taney’s statement in his ridiculous decision of the Dred Scott case in which he said while referring to the language in the Declaration of Independence that includes the phrase, "all men are created equal," Taney reasoned that "it is too clear for dispute, that the enslaved African race were not intended to be included, and formed no part of the people who framed and adopted this declaration. . . ." And that “the negro might justly and lawfully be reduced to slavery for his benefit. He was bought and sold and treated as an ordinary article of merchandise and traffic, whenever profit could be made by it."

It can be said that until every individual within a society is allowed to reach her/his full potential, the society itself will not reach its full potential. Next month we will once again be reminded of the contributions of our African-American citizens when we recognize Black History Month. It should cause us all to feel some remorse when we think of those others who perished before they had a chance to contribute as well. It should also be a time for us to consider what other possible contributions we have denied our nation by aborting so many of our fellow citizens.

While many may say that we who espouse the Pro-Life position are insensitive to the expectant mother who lacks the means or the desire to raise the child in her womb, I would humbly say that my wife and I have put our home and hearts where our mouths are. As some may already know, our house is filled with the lives of three future adults whom we adopted from a mother who lacked the means and mental acuity to raise them. Three individuals who, if Corning native and founder of Planned Parenthood, Margaret Sanger had her way, would have never been born. Consider the following quote from her handbook “What Every Boy and Girl Should Know” published in 1915:
“It is a vicious cycle; ignorance breeds poverty and poverty breeds ignorance. There is only one cure for both, and that is to stop breeding these things. Stop bringing to birth children whose inheritance cannot be one of health or intelligence. Stop bringing into the world children whose parents cannot provide for them.”

This is the legacy that hangs over this organization today, even though they may try to distance themselves from it, the horrors of eugenics still linger in every closet of every clinic.

So, as we observe this solemn anniversary, let us all examine our positions and determine which side of the line we should be on.