Conservatives must choose between a baby’s right to life and a state’s right to self-governance
If a state has the authority to legalize the murder of babies, it has the authority to legalize the murder of anyone
Morality always trumps policy; and unlike policy, it is not up for a vote
Moving the abortion issue to the states was good, but leaving it there is not
The real conflict is not between life and sovereignty but between life and death
There's currently a debate within conservative circles as to whether abortion should be an issue of state sovereignty (i.e., states' rights).
On the one hand, we want to stand up for the sanctity of life by protecting the unborn from murder; on the other hand, we want to respect a state's right to craft its own laws.
But what about states like California or New York whose demonic legislatures are guaranteed to legalize baby murder? Do we respect their laws and abandon children to death or do we run roughshod over state sovereignty and try to impose a national abortion ban? Which is more important: life or sovereignty?
I think the right answer presents itself pretty clearly when we look at the issue from a slightly different perspective. What if, instead of the unborn, we were talking about the murder of some other group of human beings: say Chinese people, or Republicans, or red-haired bilingual shepherds? Would it be acceptable for a state to legalize the murder of any of these groups? I certainly hope not because, if so, California will start executing its Republicans before the governor's signature is dry.
But the question isn't which people the government should allow to be murdered, it's whether the government has the authority to allow anyone to be murdered. And the answer is a hard "no." Just because unborn people can't fight back doesn't mean born people have the right to kill them.
It doesn't matter how many citizens vote to kill the unborn. Even if every last person in the state were to vote for murder, it still shouldn't be legalized because morality trumps policy...every time. And morality, unlike policy, is not up for a vote.
The protection of life overrides any concern about state sovereignty. That doesn't mean state sovereignty isn't important, it just means that it's less important than life. And because it's less important, there's no conflict here -- life wins.
But if the states shouldn't be allowed to legalize baby murder, then why did we remove Roe? Doing so ensured that the states would be allowed to legalize baby murder.
It's a fair question, but we have to bear in mind that removing Roe was not the endgame, it was the beginning. The first step in protecting life is to remove the barriers that prevent us from protecting life, which is what Roe was doing. Now that it's out of the way, the legality of baby-murder is being decided at the state level, and that's advantageous because it means we can also stop it at the state level.
But while moving it to the states was good, leaving it to them is definitely not. In fact, leaving it to the states would the pro-abortion position because all it would accomplish would be to exchange of one group of politicians for another. People with jobs in the federal government wouldn't be able to authorize the murder of babies, but people with jobs in the state government would.
That may advance the ball politically in some sense, but not morally because it completely sidesteps the moral issue of life. It would still allow murder to be legal.
Removing Roe didn't abolish abortion, it only provided us with the opportunity to abolish abortion. We haven't even run that race yet; we've only removed the thing that was standing in our way. The felling of Roe was the gunshot that began the race, so we're only now crossing the starting line. If we walk away as if we'd already won, we'd lose by forfeit; and, of course, it's not really we who would lose, but the millions of innocent children who would pay for our apathy with their lives.
So let's ban murder in every state we can while also fighting to do so at the national level. We need to remember the stakes here. This isn't a conflict between life and politics, it's a conflict between life and death. And life must win.
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