America has faced two great internal moral conflicts in her history. The first was over slavery.

For nearly a century, our nation struggled with this issue, and even today, our society has not fully recovered from its terrible consequences. But 30 years ago, something far more tragic was embraced in America when the Supreme Court granted women the license to take the lives of their defenseless unborn children.

Since Roe v. Wade, abortion has become one of the hottest political issues. Conservatives believe that life begins at the moment of conception and should be protected by law. Those on the left avoid the question over when life begins and believe such a decision should be left to the mother. The party of Lincoln now champions the right to life, while the party of slavery defends the legality of abortion.

This debate is not entirely about the beginning of human life, however. It is an irrefutable scientific fact that life begins at conception. But then as now, life is not the issue. The slave owners of the South did not deny the reality of the lives in their African slaves. What they denied was their personhood, and they were outraged at the attempts of Christian abolitionists to grant basic human rights to their “property.”

Similar cries are made today by the pro-choice lobby when conservatives attempt to grant any rights to human fetuses, which they regard as little more than property.

Thomas Jefferson, himself a slave owner, contemplating what would someday happen to America because of the crime of slavery, stated most solemnly: Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever.

Jefferson’s fears were certainly not unfounded. For close to a century, our democratic government permitted this immoral institution to exist, even being affirmed in the Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision. The law protected slavery then as abortion is protected today. But as Jefferson predicted, it took a violent civil war in which our nation was literally torn apart and purged through blood before we could be redeemed of our crimes.

The struggle over whether or not a woman should have the right to end the life of her unborn child will not end anytime soon, even if Roe is overturned. The issue would be sent back to the states, and an even more intense battle would ensue, resulting in an America with half of the states allowing abortion, half prohibiting it.

Other troubling questions will arise, such as over the status of the unborn child when moving from state to state. If such a situation arises, we shall see if a house divided can truly stand, or if America will once again be punished for her crimes.

Race also plays a crucial role in the histories of both slavery and abortion. Take Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood. A lifelong crusader for birth control, Sanger claimed her objective was to prevent those who were “unfit” from reproducing. Although Catholics and Jews (whom she called “human weeds”) were among the undesirables, African-Americans were the primary targets.

Writing in 1939 about her insidious aims, Sanger said, “We do not want the word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population, and the minister is the man who can straighten that idea out if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members.” Her genocidal goals have met a moderate degree of success, considering the victim in a third of all abortions in the United States are African-American children.

The Declaration of Independence, the spirit of our Constitutional law, claims that the right to life is inalienable, endowed by our Creator. The important point here is that the Declaration states that all men are “created” equal. The spirit of the Constitution proclaims that Almighty God is the Author of life, and it recognizes that we have certain rights from the moment of our creation.

Rather than pitting mother against child, we must become a society that shows compassion for both. The abortion industry has exploited women for far too long, and as research emerges proving that abortion is linked to breast cancer and other negative aftereffects, it is imperative that we stop this deadly tragedy.

At the risk of angering the pro-choice lobby, President Bush declared this past Sunday to be National Sanctity of Life Day in an effort to promote a culture of life. It appears that the tide is turning in this cultural war, for we now have an entirely pro-life government and a Supreme Court one vote away from reaching that standard. The silent screams of the innocent unborn have fallen on deaf ears for too long in America, and the time has come to put an end to this bloody holocaust.

Anthony Carver ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in history.