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 The 2011 Right to Life march in Washington. My Take: Why the abortion issue won’t go away
By R. Albert Mohler Jr., Special to CNN After recently addressing a large secular assembly on issues of moral controversy, I turned and faced a woman who urgently wanted to ask me a question: “Why won’t the abortion issue just go away?” I knew exactly what she was asking. I often meet abortion rights advocates who honestly thought that the national controversy over abortion would simply melt away within a few years of the Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion, handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1973. That was clearly the hope of the Supreme Court majority that signed onto the opinion written by Associate Justice Harry Blackmun. In a note he wrote to himself as he drafted the final opinion and looked to its aftermath, Blackmun revealed a rather optimistic assumption: “It will be an unsettled period for a while.” Surely, he didn’t mean for that “while” to extend four decades. Sunday marked the 39th anniversary of the decision, and the abortion question is anything but settled. Just look at the crowds gathering in Washington on Monday for the annual March for Life. In fact, America has been unsettled ever since Roe. Abortion has become a central issue of political conflict, debate and division. If the court had hoped to calm the waters, it failed spectacularly. As Guido Calabresi, then dean of the Yale Law School, observed, the aftermath of Roe v. Wade produced a “sense of desperate embattlement.” As Calabresi noted, the court’s decision failed to produce a national consensus. Rather, Roe “made it impossible for the opposing views to live with each other.” Those who thought that the decision of the Supreme Court would settle the issue had reason for that hope. On other controversial questions, the court’s rulings had produced initial furor and outrage, but the nation rather quickly accommodated itself to those decisions. Take integration in public schools. Not so with abortion. Why? Professor Lawrence H. Tribe of the Harvard Law School, an ardent defender of abortion rights, at least recognized that the abortion question presents nothing less than a “clash of absolutes.” Tribe attempted to propose a means of avoiding “pitting these absolutes against one another.” All such efforts have failed, precisely because the competing claims are indeed absolutes. When abortion-rights advocates and their allies ask why the abortion issue will not just go away, they really mean to ask why, given the stark reality of Roe, the pro-life movement has not dissipated and retreated into the history books. Here are five reasons why: First, the radical character of Roe – overthrowing abortion laws in 49 states – galvanized pro-life forces. The judicial imposition of abortion on demand, virtually without restriction until the third trimester, produced both shock and outrage among those who believe that the unborn child has an inalienable right to life. Within months of Roe, an organized pro-life movement came into shape, looking for any means of limiting and eventually ending the termination of unborn life. Second, Roe also had the effect, surely unforeseen by the Supreme Court, of bringing millions of evangelical Christians into the fight on behalf of unborn life. Prior to Roe, even many evangelicals believed that abortion was a Roman Catholic issue. Roe was a legal earthquake that awakened a massive number of evangelicals to the deadly reality of abortion. With remarkable speed, evangelicals soon educated themselves on the issue and then mobilized themselves both politically and culturally. Third, the death spiral of abortion simply defies adequate calculation. Over a million abortions are performed in America each year. Reports last year indicated that over 40% of all pregnancies in New York end in abortion, a rate that increases to almost 60% of pregnancies among African-American women. The sheer scale of the death toll sears the pro-life conscience. Young people can now see that millions are missing from their own generation. Fourth, abortion has proved to be exactly what pro-life activists warned it would be: a deadly threat to human dignity that would target specific populations. Prenatal testing has produced a deadly reality for unborn babies considered less than acceptable by their parents. The vast majority (90%) of unborn children diagnosed with Down syndrome are now aborted. Sex-selection abortions are legal in the wide-open “right” to abortion declared by the court. Prenatal testing of other characteristics means that parents can now abort a baby that does not meet their specifications and try again. Fifth, powerful imaging technologies now allow a look inside the womb, a privilege unknown to previous generations. That window has transformed the equation, as millions of parents have seen their unborn children and witnessed the miracle of life. They have seen the little human form and the actions of the unborn child, sucking its thumb as it nestles within its mother. Millions of siblings have seen the images of their unborn brothers and sisters taped to the refrigerator door. Those of us who believe that every single unborn child has a right to be born cannot resign from the effort to protect those lives. The greatest advances made by the pro-life movement have been made among the young, the generation that has known the death toll from Roe v. Wade all their lives. More evidence that the abortion issue will not simply go away. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of R. Albert Mohler Jr. |
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Editor's Note: R. Albert Mohler Jr. is president of 
Will the abortion issue ever go away?
Apparently, the difference between a human being and a lump of tissue is about a half inch. With the fetus almost completely removed from the womb, it was okay to puncture the fetuses skull. THis was abortion. With the child free of the womb, the same act is murder – so far. Humans normally don't become monsters immediately. They do it a little at a time. For abortionists, anything will eventually become thinkable.
Maybe that's why Mother Theresa of Calcutta said that "the fruit of abortion is nuclear war." Megadeaths will be thinkable, and with it the extinction of humanity. No humans, no abortions. Issue resolved.
The difference is that an embryo or fetus does not have rights that trump yours OR mine OR those of the woman carrying said fetus or embryo. What part of that is beyond your admittedly limited comprehension, dum b a ss?
Hey Tom, Tom still spitting venom about someone you`ve never met. Judging from your posts I take it you`ve killed a child in the womb. Your on here trying to defend your actions. The fact is your a sick twisted old bag now and the only joy I get out of corresponding to your disgusting rants is that there are probably no children for you to pass your putrid belief system on to when you leave this earth.
Hats off to all those folks who stand up for the rights of the unborn.
The rest of you sissies can go go su.ck your thumb.
Stop abortion now.
Pro-Choice wins all the time; Get your tubes tied!
Funny how most of the posts that express an opposition to abortion are from males.
I wonder how many of them consistently use con doms. I wonder how many of them have had vasectomies. I wonder how many of them possess a brain.
From the posts I see here, the answer is zip, nada, nil. These penis-waving dweebs think they have some say about abortion, yet not one of them possesses a brain that is functional. They aren't at all willing to be responsible for preventing any pregnancy by wearing a r u b be r every single time they s cr ew someone. They'll never have to endure the risks of pregnancy or childbirth, but they dream they've got some say about what their partners decide to do.
What a bunch of idiots.
How true. And I prey on dumpy women with low self-esteem, too. And I never mention my HIV status.
As if anyone who'd consider you as worth pursuing would give a ripe f888k.
Abortion is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. It`s pretty sad and sick a child has to die for YOUR poor choices.
Oh, bite me. No "child" dies in an abortion, you moronic dolt. If you want to carry a fetus for someone who doesn't, then go find a way for that to happen. Until it does, screw you. It's not your uterus, your fetus, or your life. Therefore, ti's not your choice.
Nobody wants to bite you or if they`re smart have anything to do with someone who thinks like you do. When one of you snippy gals can explain to me how a child doesn`t come from a fertilized egg then I`ll buy your ignorant excuse. Ever thought maybe you shouldn`t lay with a man you didn`t want to potentially have a kid with? Keep your legs closed or get your tubes tied so you can be the pass around gal I guess your heart desires.
I am ta father who has raised four children from infancy to adulthood. Let me explain something to you: the job ain't finished when the child is born. Advanced medical care does wonders with difficult pregnancies. But when it comes to raising kids, you're on your own. Did you ever have to decide whether to place a child in a psychiatric ward? What about coming up to an accident scene on the highway and seeing your daughter's car in shambles. What about signing to let your son enter the Marines in wartime to keep him away from drug pushers? Another piece of reality for you: a teacher friend of mine has to discourage unmarried teens from proudly bringing their babies to show off in school. Why? Because many girls then say "Oh, I want one of those." In those cases, the girls are only too happy to dispense with condoms.
Something else to think about: a teacher friend of mine
Oh, gee. Do you dimwitted morons think anyone cares about your semen or your pen ises? Get a clue. If you aren't the one who's pregnant, you can s uck hind t it. You don't matter. If you want a say in this, either grow a uterus and carry the fetus, or accept the facts: you don't bear the risk. Therefore, you don't get to have the decision.
Hey, Hard Luck: Fiick you. You would be lucky if you ever got laid at all, and any woman unfortunate enough to have had s2x with you would be stupid if she didn't take precautions to prevent any possible progeny from issuing forth.
Really, dude, are you so dim that you think anyone wants to propagate your DNA?
You dope, you'd be lucky to get a date with a balloon.
Right from the Hippocratic Oath:
I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if I am asked, nor will I advise such a plan; and similarly I will not give a woman a pessary to cause an abortion.
Completely irrelevant, you moron. The Hippocratic Oath isn't even required or adhered to anymore.
You're so friggin' stupid it's embarrassing that you're part of the human race.
Here's a sixth reason: Norma McCorvey, (Jane Roe, as in Roe v. Wade) now is active in Pro-Life causes.
I missed the 1st five, however, I don't see why 1 person being pro-life makes a difference.
that's cool, because all the pro-lifers who run to go get quick abortions when they need one cancel her out.
Dear pro-"life"ers, Here's your chance, please use socio-economic, environmental, crime related, and monetary reasons why popping more babies into low income homes is a good idea. Aaannddd go! (First person to quote Scripture at me loses, i'm not five)
Kill the poor! Problem solved. We'll all be the 1%
Dear Lion King, I specifically said DON'T quote Scripture, sheesh!
True, but I thought you meant Hebrew/Christian scripture. I didn't know you also meant the Gospel of OWS
which ever one this is http://imgur.com/mpQA0
CreepyPriest's premise is that abortion should be legal as a form of socio-economic engineering. He basically believes that society would be better without 'undesirables' .... I
Heres one, more revenue from more taxpayers goes into social security, that way we wont have the social security crisis.
It is written by men that every person is endowed by his or her creator with certain inalienable rights, and that among these is the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I believe it is true.
But if it is true for a person, such as I, without a womb, then it is equallly true of women, that they, too, have inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We know that those rights include the right to be safe and secure in one's own body. If the state has no power to take a woman's right to be secure in her own body away, how can such power be given a rapist – why permit it be taken by force or violence. The right of a woman to be so secure must include the right to rid her body of the product of her being violated.
The argument that a woman's right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is altered, limited, or substantially diminished for the simple fact that she has a womb, is not pursuasive. St. Paul, forgive me, but I believe it to be an ungodly argument. On the other hand, the proposal that the unborn life acquires his or her rights, strengthening over time, in the developmental process, vis-a-vis those of the mother's, seems quite in keeping with a godly order of things.
If all our rights come from your god, why is he such a putz about it? Why is he so fickle? Why does he keep changing his mind?
Your god says I have freedom speed, as I'm sitting here in the US. Yet if I travel a few thousand miles to China, I no longer have freedom of speech. What happened? Why does your god change his mind like this?
How come 200 years ago, I, as a white male land owner, had a right to vote – a right apparently granted by your god. Yet, for some strange reason, York god didn't think that black folks or women needed that same right. Your god finally changed his mind in the mid 1800's and decided that black men should vote too – but not any women. Then in the 1920's, your god changed his mind yet again and let women vote. Finally, in the mid 70's your god changed his mind yet again and said that 18, 19, and 20 year old should vote. Why does your god keep changing his mind about who gets this unalienable right? And why the hell does he keep changing his mind about this depending on what country you're in?
Finally, apparently your god gives me the right to worship whatever god or gods I want, even if they aren't him. Yet in his story book he says that I must worship only him – under penalty of death and eternal torture. Why is your god psychotic and schizophrenic like this?
So a Women gets to play god with her child, Because she chose tobe lax about birth control she gets to just kill the result of her opps my bad!
43,000,000. million are dead because of Abortion.......That is not justifiable by any means.
Says who? Some moron who can't spell "cat" without resorting to a dictionary? Puhleeze. You don't have any say over what is "acceptable", you witless 'tard.
It is written that God knits us in our mother's womb, that he counts the very hairs on our heads before we are conceived, and that he has a plan for every life before conception. If it is true of the man child it is also true of the woman. It must then be true even of the mother of the unborn child; no less true. Is it anywhere written that God favors the life of the unborn child over the ife of the mother. If the taking of the unborn life is necesary in order to save the mother, where is the murder?
There will always be exceptions, There has to be But Abortion as birth control is not acceptable.
So you always use a rubber, do you Greggy?
Always, with you Tom Tom. I want to stay clean and serene.
You're clean, all right, you jit bag. You're certainly clean of any brain matter.
Truth is seldom in her mouth.
Typical american taliban – here are the reason why, even though they aren't accurate or based on proof. I agree, best case scenario, there aren't any abortions. However, we cannot deny someone the CHOICE because of YOUR religious BELIEFs.
American Taliban? I guess that makes you the rank and file of the communist "thought police"
as opposed to capitalist "thought police?"
as opposed to democratic "thought police?"
By God's grace we will recruit & trained a million Friends (mentors) 2 walk along side a pregnant woman, showing her Christ's love&compassion while connecting them 2 the wide range of life-affirming resources needed 2 choose LIFE & adoption where appropriate. Please pray 4 use and visit out websites. http://www.Birthmothers.org is our outreach site. We are also training men Friends too, for the men have been left out for far to long. They need to be pointed to Cross too! Call my cell at 703-624-7121 to learn more. Jim wright Founder, President & Volunteer
Go take your meds.
JR-Thank you for your yeoman service. Praying that God will guide you in your services.
Until the instant that she delivers that baby, when we will step over in in the street if it is homeless or hungry or sick.
Hey Jim, what are makin' these days? $$$
To answer Creepycoolprieist I am a volunteer(no pay or salary). We try to help woman and men who WANT to choose life. And most want to choose life. Has anyone gven thought to the ecomomic cost to the U.S. from having suffered 54 million abortions over the past 39 years? As a nation, we are now beggining to feel the effects. Also, abortiions cross all economic strata, not just the poor and most are not teenagers.
Jim
"We are begging to feel the effects"?
Huh?
Try again, and this time post sober.
My bad. Sorry, I misread your post. I retract mine.
Oh, Jim? Did you actually attend high school? Did you graduate? Doesn't look like it.
If abortion will enable a girl to continue her education, avoid poverty and the illiteracy you exhibit, I'm not going to stand in her way, should she decide to choose it.
This super geek will pick a fight and insult anyone on here. Now it's his turn! This is his day. Revenge is his!!! Because not only was he mostly unnoticed and thought a weirdo and a nerd in high school, he still goes through life that way; awkward, patronized, not the center of any group. But here, on this site.... Why, he the biggest baddest mo fo, slashing people left and right, taunting, insulting, bullying – all the things he never got/gets to do in real life.
So I will sit back and watch the show. It's really a case study in abnormal psych and what kind of people the anonymous Internet can bring out in us. Take it away Tom Tom......
Umm, honey? I'm female and I'm over 50.
Get a clue.
Whatsamatter, Juni? Stuck for a response?
You little f*8k tard, you're nothing but a wart on the butt of the universe. You are likely all of 16 and dumb as a bag of hair. Grow up and get a clue: you don't get to tell others how to live their lives. End of sentence. Period.
Wow, Tom Tom the harlot's son get the award:
For what, you ask? For being the rudest, most hostile, angriest person on here. I'll bet in real life he is a super geek! A super geek who was constantly picked on and left out of stuff as a kid. Ackward looking, probably even ugly, with a tiny appendage, he's the ultimate Willy Loman. Like the dopey science movies from the 80's, he has found his niche holed up in a room with a computer. Alternating between this site and por.no, he gets to "beat up" the cool kids AND gets the girl (or boy, or kiddies?)
Aww, poor baby. Don't be a sore loser.
I've been pregnant twice and thankfully, have given birth to two healthy babies that I wanted. Yes, it's a human life in there. But it's also a parasite, and although I can't imagine ending a human life growing inside me for other than dire reasons (e.g. we'll both die if I don't, or it'll live a severely shortened life of intense pain if I carry it to term), I respect every woman's right not to be a host to a parasite of any kind. Pregnancy is miserable, and it's only worth it if you want that child. It is unconscionable, for example, to allow a rapist to use his victim as a vessel in which to grow his progeny for nine months. Since Albert is a man, he will never realize what a sacrifice women make in order to continue this species, but if men had to endure what women do to have their own children, my guess is this article would be very different.
I also recognize the reality of what happens when unwanted babies are born; most become a burden on society, if their unwitting parents don't kill them (accidentally or deliberately) first. The truth is there are not loving homes for all of the babies that would be born if all pregnancies were carried to term, and the worst cases would be the special needs children nobody would want, and the children born at the expense of their own mother's lives (though many mothers would in fact make that sacrifice, but others would choose to save their own lives for the sake of their other, existing or future children, especially if the child is not likely to survive anyway).
Abortion is not a desirable thing; it would be much better not to have unwanted pregnancies or unhealthy fetuses in the first place, but the reality is it is a societal necessity, and ultimately ought to be up to each woman what to do with her own body. When Albert gets pregnant, he can decide what to do with it, but he has no business telling someone else what to do with a parasite growing inside their body.
Well put!
@momof2: i agree, i just see it from the childs' perspective. it's cruel to force a child born to a crack or heroine addict to suffer with an addiction they never asked for. if a child will have to do without because the teen mother gets pregnant and can't provide for it, that's torture as well. children should not be forced to suffer for an adults mistake or ignorance. plus contraseptives should be made readly availible and explained to both genders how to use them properly.
Perfectly put.
Are you serious a parasite? People who think like you are parasites on the morality of this country. How bout this lady? You dont want the kid. Give it to the father or grandparents. If the father HAS to pay for it if you so CHOOSE to have it then who gives you the right to play God? Dont want kids keep your legs closed period.
Look up the definition of parasite, you idiot. I doubt you can even find it, since you're too stupid to recite the alphabet unless you sing the little song.
You dipshi55. Do you really think your seed is so valuable that any woman is required to foster it?
As if.
Try taking responsibility for your actions without disposing of life to cover your indiscretions. Women aren`t children they need to learn to stop fornicating without protection or accept the consequences thats the real choice not murder on demand.
Amen! I agree with the article! Be courageous to stick to your convictions.
The Chard's had nearly an hour to respond. What's wrong, Chard? Can't come up with an excuse for your ignorance? Too cowardly to admit you made a mistake?
Funny. You won't forgive a woman who's made a mistake by becoming pregnant. Hypocrite.
Perhaps Chard has a life, perhaps you should get one too?
@Stuck – Boom. Spot on.
Maybe you should take your own advice, honeybun. Seems you're quite interested in what I post; I'd say you're the one in need of a life.
Oh, wait. You're a dolt. Never mind.
Chard? Oh, Chard? I say, I say, boy, where are you, Chard?
What's wrong, dear? No answers?
Why am I not surprised that the cat's got your tongue?
The same reason the 'slavery issue' didn't go away!
It did go away. It was outlawed. And R v W stands. Got a point?
I think he does have a point. On the top of his head. Under his hood.
He has a VERY small hood.
Yeh don`t you know murder ain`t murder if it`s legal.
These are the Part I Crimes:
Murder is the unlawful .k.i.l.l.i.n.g. of one human being by another.
Forcible r.a.p.e.
Robbery is by f.o.r.c.e. or the threat of .f.o.r.c.e.
Aggravated a.s.s.a.u.l.t - inflicting i.n.j.u.r.y. upon another person.
Burglary is entry a structure, vehicle, or vessel
Larceny-theft is taking without force
Motor vehicle theft
Arson is the b.u.r.n.i.n.g. or attempted b.u.r.n..i.n.g. of property (buildings)
It is a safe bet they are never going to stop. They have been going on since the dawn of man. Most of us think they are wrong (and hence part of the criminal code) but no society has ever stopped any of them (even the U.S.S.R.)(especially the U.S.S.R.). There are other crimes (Part II) which have also been a human experience since man got molars. It is never going to stop and a.b.o.r.t.i.o.n is only one form of it. (DUI vehicular homicides is another).
I'll bet Chard won't even respond to my question about RU486 and Plan B. Here's a dolt who thinks he's the authority on Christian behavior and the ultimate source for advice on what's "moral", someone who believes himself to be judge and jury on women's reproductive rights (even though the only s3x he gets is with Rosy Palm), yet he doesn't know the difference between an abortion pill and the morning-after pill. Wouldn't you think someone that arrogant would actually know the facts? Why doesn't Chard? And why doesn't he have the balls to ADMIT and CONFESS his errors?
Because he's a hypocrite.
As I said previously, I truly get a kick out of it when Chard ignores my questions. It proves my point. He's a coward.
Take a deep breath and Hold it for a sec then let it out slowly, You will feel better, Chard has moved on so should you.
Take a deep course in English grammar. Learn how to use capitals. You will write better. Move on to high school.