By DAVID EPPS
Pastor

On March 6, 1857, the United States Supreme Court issued a decision that would have far reaching and tragic results. In the landmark Dred Scott decision the court ruled once and for all that black people were not legal "persons" according to the Constitution of the United States. The court ruled that a slave was literally the property of his owner and could be bought, sold, used, or even killed at the owner's discretion.

Pro-slavery advocates were relieved. The court had spoken. Never again would they be troubled by those who would insist that slaves were persons, that they had the right to be free, the right to live, or the right to anything.

In a real sense, those who supported the Dred Scott decision were pro-choice. In their view, the owner of the slave had the right to chose to buy, sell, use, abuse, or kill his property. These early pro-choice advocates believed that abolitionists should not attempt to impose their morality on the slave owner. After all, slavery is legal (the Supreme Court said so), and the abolitionists should obey the law of the land.

Yet, there were others who, in the view of the slaves, were "pro-life" (for, indeed, these nineteenth century abolitionists worked and struggled to enable the black slaves to have the most fundamental of rights the right to life).

Quietly, men and women of conscience worked to help slaves escape to freedom. They protested, they lobbied, and they used their influence, money, and abilities to assert that black people were, in spite of the law, persons. Black people were not property and slave owners did not have the moral right to buy, sell, or kill, regardless of the law of the land. Ultimately 600,000 Americans died in a great civil war to overturn the immoral and repugnant Dred Scott decision. Today, no one doubts that the Supreme Court was in error and that the Dred Scott decision was wrong, immoral, and unconscionable.

On Jan. 22, 1973, the United States Supreme Court decided once and for all that unborn humans were not persons, that they were the property of the biological mother, and that the mother could do what ever she wanted with her property, including kill it. Pro-choice advocates triumphantly proclaimed that abortion was the law of the land, should be obeyed, and that the twentieth century "pro-life" advocates should not attempt to impose their morality on others.

Yet, reminiscent of the Dred Scott situation, those who favor the abolition of abortion continue to work, protest, lobby, influence, and use their money and talents to defend the rights of this most powerless of oppressed minorities the unborn.

In 1857, neither the Whigs nor the Democrats were known for their antislavery sentiments, In fact, Southern Democrats were solidly behind the Dred Scott decision and were among the most vocal of slavery proponents. It would take a Republican president to do what the Congress and Supreme Court refused to do. Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves and, finally, blacks were no longer non-persons or mere property. By and large, Southern Democrats would fight and oppose equal rights for blacks for the next 100 years.

The Supreme Court and the Democrats were wrong on Dred Scott 143 years ago and they are just as wrong on abortion today. History will eventually demonstrate that abortion is just as wrong, immoral, and unconscionable as slavery.

As long as the national Democratic Party continues, by its official support of abortion, to oppress and destroy this fragile minority, I will continue to vote against Democratic candidates at every opportunity. Wrong is still wrong, whether the issue is the enslavement of blacks or the wholesale genocide of America's unwanted unborn children.

[Father David Epps is rector of Christ the King Church in Peachtree City. He may be contacted at www.ChristTheKingCEC.com or at FatherDavidEpps@aol.com.]

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