SIMILARITY IN REASONING FOR SLAVERY/ABORTION ISSUE

Their Arguments For Slavery           Their Arguments For Abortion


1. No doubt he has a heart and a      1. No doubt he has a heart and a
brain and is BIOLOGICALLY human,      brain and is BIOLOGICALLY human,
but a slave just is not a person      but a fetus just is not a person
under the constitution. The Supreme   under the constitution. The Supreme
Court made this perfectly clear in    Court made this perfectly clear in
Dred Scott v. Sandford.               Roe v. Wade.

2. A slave becomes a person only      2. A fetus becomes a person only
when he is set free. Before that      when he is born. Before that time,
time, as the courts have ruled, he    as the courts have ruled, he simply
simply has no rights.                 has no rights.

3. The social and economic costs of   3. The social and economic costs of
prohibiting slavery will be ab-       prohibiting abortion will be
solutely catastrophic. What is        absolutely catastrophic. What is
more, they will be unfairly con-      more, they will be unfairly con-
centrated upon a single group.        centrated upon a single group.

4. One cannot support the right of    4. One cannot support the right of
states to govern themselves if one    women to govern themselves if one
does not oppose the abolition of      does not oppose the abolition of
slavery. For better or worse,         abortion. For better or worse,
slavery is the key issue in the       abortion is the key issue in the
states' rights movement.              women's rights movement.

5. A man has the right to do what-    5. A woman has the right to do
ever he pleases with his personal     whatever she pleases with her
property: to wit, the plantation      personal property: to wit, her
and the slave who is a part of it.    body and the fetus who is a part
                                      of it.

6. Those who oppose slavery are       6. Those who oppose abortion are
free to refrain from it. They have    free to refrain from it. They have
no right to impose their personal     no right to impose their personal
religious morality upon society       religious morality upon society
through legislation or a constitu-    through legislation or a
tional amendment.                     constitutional amendment.

7. Isn't slavery really something     7. Isn't abortion really something
merciful? Isn't it better to be       merciful? Isn't it better never to
set free than to be sent unpre-       be born than to be sent unprepared
pared and ill-equipped into an        and ill-equipped into an
environment where one is un-          environment where one is unwanted,
wanted, unloved, and bound to be      unloved, and bound to be abused?
abused?

8. Outlawing the slave trade          8. Outlawing abortion will not put
will not put an end to its            an end to its occurrence: it will
occurrence: it will simply            simply transfer its conduct from
transfer its conduct from             humane physicians to barbaric
humane Englishmen to barbaric         butchers.
privateers.

9. Even if slavery could be           9. Even if abortion could be
stopped in the United States          stopped in the United States, the
the wealthy will simply move          wealthy will simply fly to the
to the Carribean. Only the            Carribean. Only the poor will
poor will suffer.                     suffer.

10. All the progressive churches      10. All the progressive churches
(the Methodists, the Unitarians,      (the Methodists, the Unitarians,
the Congregationalists) have de-      the Congregationalists) have
clared that slavery is moral; only    declared that abortion is moral;
the Quakers and the Papists still     only the Fundamentalists and the
dissent.                              Catholics still dissent.

11. Those of us who defend the        11. Those of us who defend the
constitutional protection of          constitutional protection of
slavery are not pro-SLAVERY; we       abortion are not pro-ABORTION; we
are pro-LIBERTY.                      are pro-CHOICE.

12. It is very easy for Northerners   12. It is very easy for men to
to oppose slavery; they have          oppose abortion; they have
nothing to lose.                      nothing to lose.

13. The abolition movement is         13. The pro-life movement is
nothing but an anti-democratic        nothing but an anti-democratic
crusade designed to break down        crusade designed to break down
the separation of Church and          the separation of Church and
State.                                State.

14. Only an abolitionist could        14. Only a pro-lifer could think
think that slaves are persons         that fetuses are persons like us.
like us. Just look at them: they      Just look at them: they are
are completely different.             completely different.