The debate surrounding abortion took a new twist recently when a former Pennsylvania Senator mentioned the US President’s race during an interview.
He said: “The question is — and this is what Barack Obama didn’t want to answer — is that human life a person under the Constitution? And Barack Obama says no.
“Well if that person, human life is not a person, then, I find it almost remarkable for a black man to say, ‘we are going to decide who are people and who are not people.’”
Much of the debate about abortion in the USA seems to surround one question, namely is a foetus a person? The pro abortionists say no while the anti abortionists are firmly in the yes camp.
It is a difficult question in reality to answer, and will probably never be answered to any degree of satisfaction.
However for a US citizen to raise the race of an individual in an abortion debate is rather disturbing. But there seems to be a precedent for such an attack. Opponents of abortion recently compared fertilised eggs to black slaves living in America prior to the civil war; they were not considered fully human. Citing the Illinois Rights to Life Committee the Senator said: “The court decisions on slavery v[ersu]s abortion demonstrate an equivalent denial of personhood for two different categories of human beings, slaves and unborn children.”
Opponents also argue that legalised abortion has lead to what they call a ‘black holocaust’; therefore black Americans should support pro life campaigns.
How well this will go down with Americans is anyone’s guess, but the Pennsylvania Senator is unrepentant. He told a news programme: “For decades certain human beings were wrongly treated as property and denied liberty in America because they were not considered persons under the constitution.
“Today other human beings, the unborn of all races, are also wrongly treated as property and denied the right to life for the same reason; because they are not considered persons under the constitution.
“I am disappointed that President Obama, who rightfully fights for civil rights, refuses to recognize the civil rights of the unborn in this country.”