What, to the Unborn, is the Fourth of July?

One hundred seventy years ago today, the great abolitionist Frederick Douglass gave a speech commemorating the 76th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. He gave honor to America and encouraged citizens to celebrate the moral courage and bravery of the founding fathers. He even pushed back against rhetoric about the constitution being pro-slavery. To him, it was a “glorious liberty document.”

But it was not Douglass’ mission to pat the ego of the young nation. No, his goal was to scold America as a greedy and spoiled child. “You have no right to enjoy a child’s share in the labor of your fathers, unless your children are to be blest by your labors. You have no right to wear out and waste the hard-earned fame of your fathers to cover your indolence.”

Great men—yet imperfect men—rose to the necessary demand of the moment to rebel against a tyrannical government and create a new nation. Douglass could not allow a room full of Americans to celebrate those achievements of dead men, while the present injustice of slavery haunted the country.

In hindsight, Douglass noted the obvious wrongness of the British. But at the time, rebellion against the crown labeled you a traitor. In 1852, slavery was also an obvious wrong to anyone brave enough to not be willfully blind, yet it lasted for another decade. Today, in 2022, I say that abortion is an obvious wrong, and among the greatest horrors of our nation.

Douglass explained the inconsistencies in the minds of men regarding the humanity of the negro. “Must I undertake to prove that a slave is a man? That point is conceded already. Nobody doubts it. The slaveholders themselves acknowledge it in the enactment of laws for their government.” It is already a conceded scientific point that the origin of unique human life begins at conception, yet our laws are inconsistent. Why does it make sense that if a pregnant woman were driving to an abortion clinic and was killed by a drunk driver, he would be charged with vehicular manslaughter? As President Ronald Reagan pointed out, why does it make sense that the law will respect the property rights of a fetus if a father writes a will to his unborn child, yet the mother can rob the beneficiary of their life? Does anyone doubt Scott Peterson should have been convicted for the murder of his wife and unborn child? Does anyone doubt that Remee Lee’s six-week fetus deserved justice after her ex-boyfriend tricked her into taking an abortion pill? The death penalty is being sought for Hunter James Tatum for shooting his wife, who was six months pregnant, in the head. The doctors performed an emergency delivery, but Baby Everett did not survive.

I have never had a conversation with an abortion advocate who does not believe the violent aggressors in cases like these should be charged for the deaths of the unborn. But if Baby Everett was aborted on the last day in his fifth month, they would claim he wasn’t alive because Everett was not viable or sentient, and it was his mother’s right to dismember him. How can what happened to Remee Lee be a grave injustice, or miscarriages be a great tragedy, while any other woman who chooses an early abortion is exercising “freedom?”

They say it’s about a woman’s choice. The unborn, to them, has no rights. The value of their life is completely subject to the wants of the mother. This sort of flippant philosophy flies in the face of “unalienable rights” outlined in the Declaration of Independence. Without the right to life, we can have no other rights. And if they can only be granted by the whims of a woman, they are not endowed by a Creator. We have no natural human rights. All rights and value must be earned.

It is no question the unborn are alive. Whether you value that life, is completely subjective—which remains true in and out of the womb. If you disqualify the unborn from “life,” you do so with the foreknowledge of what they do not possess, for the purpose of actively discriminating against them. Would you justify taking the life of anyone else outside of the womb based on their size, level of development, environment, and degree of dependency? These humans are treated as though they are the women’s property, instead of beings worthy of dignity and moral consideration. Frederick Douglass probably hoped we’d move beyond this sort of archaic thinking, yet here we are again.

Douglass openly rebuked Christians for passively standing by while the brutality of slavery waged on. I, too, question the conviction of the so-called Christians, like Senator “Reverend” Warnock, who advocates for a woman’s choice to end the life of a child of God. A child who he calls before the foundation of the world, knows in the womb, and knits together. A child who is fearfully and wonderfully made.

The Pro-Life movement had a major victory with the overturning of Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, yet death dealers in positions of authority are not satisfied with the blood of over sixty million slain. The Biden Administration is considering how they can fund abortion across state lines. Governors Gavin Newsom of California and Kathy Hochul of New York want their states to be abortion sanctuaries. Senator Elizabeth Warren and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez want “emergency” abortion clinics on federal land. It stirs within me similar anger I imagine Douglass had while discussing the wickedness of the Fugitive Slave Act. “By that act, Mason & Dixon’s line has been obliterated; New York has become as Virginia; and the power to hold, hunt, and sell men, women, and children as slaves remains no longer a mere state institution, but is now an institution as the whole United States. The power is co-extensive with the Star-Spangled Banner and American Christianity. Where these go, may also go the merciless slave-hunter. Where these are, man is not sacred.”

How can any American turn a blind eye to the barbaric tactics of abortion? The baby is safe in their mother’s womb, exactly where they’re meant to be, brought into this world by specific and deliberate actions—consensually, nearly 100% of the time! Eye color, hair color, and whether they have your nose and cheekbones are already determined. You’re less than a year from inhaling their scent, hearing their cry, and their joyous giggles. But if you’re a young woman like Albany Rose, you were coerced and frightened into an abortion at sixteen. The medical staff at Planned Parenthood ignored her last-ditch effort on her form, stating she wanted to keep her baby. They refused to let her see the ultrasound of her eight-to-nine-week fetus, claiming she wouldn’t be able to see anything. Like many women who have abortions, Albany coped by becoming Pro-Choice. She even wanted a career at Planned Parenthood, until she saw an ultrasound three years later. She heard the heartbeat of her daughter at 163bpm. When she saw her little body moving around in her womb, Albany realize she had been conned.

The pro-choice movement will say abortion is merely “denying your resources” to a fetus. The pill blocks progesterone, which the body produces naturally to stabilize the lining of the uterus. When it is blocked, the lining breaks down, cutting off blood and nourishment to the baby. After the baby starves and suffocates within the womb, a second pill is administered to cause heavy bleeding and contractions, to force the dead baby from the mother’s womb. Surgical abortions require suction, scraping, crushing, and tearing of the baby’s limbs apart. The baby can sense light at fifteen weeks. Arguably, it can feel pain. Dobbs v. Jackson argued abortion should be illegal after fifteen weeks. Do the women marching in the streets, illegally protesting in front of the homes of Justices, and burning pregnancy crisis centers around the country, understand how developed an unborn baby is before it’s deemed “viable?”

We are told we must keep these barbaric practices accessible and legal for “safety,” but what is safe about a deliberate killing of the unborn? What is safe about the women who endure unnatural procedures, and are fed lies by professional hitmen? A dear friend of mine had a second-trimester abortion. It was a brutal two-day procedure that she thought would result in a “blank slate.” Instead, her anesthesia failed, and she passed out weeping from the pain as the doctor pulled on her insides. To this day, she can feel remnants of that pain.

And what was done to the remains of her child? Was the departed used as medical waste to power the lights of Baltimore? Was the departed sold to the FDA for humanized mice experiments? Are the cell lines used for vaccines by pharmaceutical companies or research at universities? How is a nation, claimed to be “under God,” still allowing human beings to be treated as unwilling commodities, bought and sold?

What, to the American unborn, is your Fourth of July? Nothing. They would have no ability to perceive the grand meaning of such a day, nor are they capable of grasping the hypocrisy of it. We no longer admire brave men of moral courage. To protect the institution of abortion, men are pressured to be silent. To speak out against injustice is considered an injustice! In what world is it just for a man to be silent about the slaying of his progeny? No, he is not only expected to be silent; he is expected to be complicit and supportive. There is no nation that can withstand this sort of cruel madness.

There is no such thing as “if you don’t like an abortion, don’t get one,” in America. If you do not participate in the sacrilege, you’ll be dragged to court like Hobby Lobby and the Little Sisters of the Poor. And the men who persecute you are promoted to “Health Secretary,” like Xavier Becerra.

We live in a nation that was founded upon the principle of life, yet we worship Death. We rationalize discrimination to appease its visceral hunger. We terrorize and burden women with weakness, and shackle them with the lie that the only path to freedom is through an altar, thirsty for the blood of their children.

I love my country. I do, but we are not living up to the promises the founders fought for. We weren’t in 1852, and we aren’t today. But we are capable of doing better. We are a land of opportunity, upward mobility, kindness, and perseverance. We can be a nation that chooses to sacrifice for others rather than sacrificing others for self. Many thought the overturning of Roe v Wade would never happen within their lifetime, yet it has perished.

I am aware that many reading this will be offended that I find parallels in Frederick Douglass’ speech to the plight of abortion. Slavery and abortion are not the same, but they both require dehumanizing an individual for the purpose of denying their rights. You may not see the unborn as a valued human, but the slave master once said the same about their property. You may say it’s too different because a life of lived suffering is a greater tragedy than an early life taken. To that, I ask you this question: would you have aborted Frederick Douglass or Harriett Tubman to spare them the life of slavery? Do you believe it would have been a moral good if they were killed in the womb and prevented from developing into heroes of liberty?

They—along with many others—were willing to fight injustice, even at the risk of being killed or recaptured. They lived through their lives, even with flayed flesh and scars from their master’s whip. They chose to exercise their right to life, just like every abortion advocate does every day. They lived their lives with optimism and hope for a better world, and they—themselves—set out to build it.

So, it would appear there are worse things in this world than being a slave. To be oppressed and enslaved by your own moral cowardice, is far beyond a fate worse than death; it equates to over sixty million dead and counting.