Photo by Matt A.J. Flickr/ Crative commons license
This week, Donald Trump made his largest concession on the issue of abortion. In a speech Monday, the president that touted the overturning of Roe V Wade, he declared that abortion should be left up to the states. “This 50-year battle over Roe v. Wade took it out of the federal hands and brought it into the hearts, minds, and vote of the people in each state, it was really something,” Trump said. “Now, it’s up to the states to do the right thing.”
This is coming from the same man, that when opponent Ron DeSantis signed legislation banning abortion after 6 weeks, said it was a “terrible mistake”. While many are currently in an tizzy, they forget that at the same time Trump was criticizing DeSantis, he went on “Meet The Press”, and in September of 2023 (how old were you seven months ago?) and made the same proclamation. Again, that federalism argument. It’s not an enumerated right of the federal government to ban abortion, therefore, it falls to the states.
Normally, I would stand for the right of states to make this decision. In this instance however, the federal government should step in. This isn’t an administrative issue like speed limits, funding issue like property taxes, or even a state law enforcement directive such as decriminalizing marijuana. This is a human life issue. As the preamble to our constitution states, our government was instituted “…to provide for the common Defense, promote the General Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.”
What could be more of a common defense than that of the unborn? What could be more of a role for the central government than securing the blessings of liberty for our children, born or not? A national ban on abortion falls well within the mission statement of our venerated Constitution. Arguing that it’s a states’ rights issue, is a logical fallacy.
Would we go back to allowing the states to decide that allowing slavery is their right, despite the adoption of the 13th Amendment? Or if a state, arguing that is their 10th Amendment right to legalize child prostitution? Don’t conflate this with California decriminalizing child prostitution as a way to get children out of human trafficking situations without burdening them with a criminal arrest/prosecution.
These situations would lead to major outrages, and rightfully so. These laws, while theoretically allowable according to the 10th Amendment, run afoul of the central government’s duty to provide for the General Welfare, as well as our Declaration of Independence’s assurance of unalienable rights to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.
Abortion is a much larger stain on America’s legacy than even slavery. 65 million lives have been snuffed out since Roe. Killed out of fear, shame, or the current motivator: sheer selfishness. Compare that to 10 million slaves that lived from the time of the first Africans being brought to our shores until the passage of the 13th Amendment. Fifty years, compared a century and a half.
If our central government can recognize and abolish the horror of slavery, a sin visible to all, why won’t it push to abolish a system of death care that has killed more humans than the populations of 174 countries around the world?
“I tremble for my country, when I remember that God is just” – Thomas Jefferson