My speech

This speech comes from a letter I wrote to President Obama. I have re-written this a I took this speech to competition and an going to Regional's with it!

A Comparison of the Civil War and the War on Abortion

“…We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broke.” (NY Times) President Obama said these rousing words at his Presidential inauguration . President Obama was talking about terrorists, but the principle still applies, the innocent are still innocent and their lives still need protection, whether from a terrorist or an abortionist.

Human life is precious and must be protected from conception. I will illustrate this point by using historical examples to uphold the sanctity of life and hopefully urge you to fight for the lives of unborn children.

Step back with me to the mid 1800’s when, our country was in an uproar because of the conflicts over states rights and the rights of enslaved African Americans. Turmoil between the states eventually turned into a civil war. The North came out victorious, in due course slaves were freed and the Union was preserved. I believe, opposed to 150 years ago, nearly all Americans today will tell you that slavery was and is wrong and should not be condoned. They will also tell you African Americans are no more or less human then White Americans.

In this same time period Darwin’s Descent of Man was published. Darwin, a highly respected man said things that we would consider very disrespectful today. For example, he said that women were less evolved than men, and people of African descent were even less evolved than women. He also tried to say that black people were a “Sub- Species” and less mentally developed than white people. We know what Darwin believed about African Americans was wrong. African Americans are just as intelligent as anyone else. We saw this through men such as Fredrick Douglass, and women like Sojourner Truth. Who are we to deny men and women of any race or color the right to live and make a difference? These men and women had a great influence on the outcome of our Civil War, but what would have happened had they never been given the chance to live?

This now brings me to the topic that is dividing America today: abortion. I see many similarities between the ways people viewed African Americans in the Civil War, and how we view the unborn today. During the Civil War, many people saw slaves as less than human; that is how we view fetuses today. Slaveholders used their slaves for selfish reasons; most times, we abort our babies out of selfishness too. Prior to the 14^th amendment slaves were not entitled to the unalienable rights as stated in our Declaration; just as our unborn are not entitled to these rights today.

The Fugitive slave act of 1850 was a law that made it illegal for slaves to escape and for anyone to help salves do so. Not only that, but slaves could no longer have a court hearing as demonstrated in the Dred scot case. Today we do not allow the unborn to be heard at all. Since Rove vs. Wade, more than 50 million children’s voices have been silenced because of abortion.

Today pro-lifers are very much like those who disobeyed the Fugitive Slave Act. Both these groups were volunteer, and they knew they had to do what was right no matter the consequences. They gave from what they had, and they helped in any way they could; as opposed to the pro slavery faction, which grew rich through the exploitation of others. One-hundred and fifty years ago, that is what slave owners and slave traders did. Now, that is what Abortion doctors do. They gain wealth through the slaughtering of today’s innocent unborn lives.

In order to justify abortion we are debating the moot point about when life begins; when we all know the answer, we just do not want to believe it. We choose not to believe this truth because it is “inconvenient” to our life style. This must be how the Slaveholders reacted to the possibility of their slaves being just as human as they were; it was inconvenient to their life style and therefore unacceptable.

Though many people today do believe that the unborn baby is a person, they still choose to ignore this self-evident truth and say that the woman has more rights than the unborn baby. This is a foolish argument because the baby inside the mother is not some blob of tissue, it is a completely separate person with its own DNA, its own two hands and feet, its own personality and half the time the baby is a different gender. The slave holders believed this false idea too; They said that because the slave was under their white master, the master had power over the slave, even the power to inflict harm or death.

Our President also said in his inaugural address, “…the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.” (NY times) How can the president or anyone say all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness, and yet deny the unborn these rights?.

We have looked at what Darwin thought of human life, the justification used by the North and the South to promote slavery in the 1800’s, and we have seen what Americans in general believe about the sanctity of life. This in not just an American problem, people all over the world have struggled with the issue of the sanctity of life ever since the fall of man. Early pagans sacrificed their children to their gods. Romans abandoned their unwanted children on wall and fences to be destroyed in heinous ways or rescued by Christians. The Chinese killed their daughters because they preferred sons. Based on these examples we can see that humans have been selfish ever since time began, whether by killing children, or enslaving others. We as fallen people will never be able to abolish selfishness, but, through the grace of God we can fight to save lives and teach people of the sanctity of life and I believe for us Americans this means we are to fight for the unborn so that they may have life, liberty, and the chance to pursue their dreams.

Before I close I would like to share with you a quote from Harriet Beecher Stowe’s book Uncle Tom’s Cabin,

“A day of grace is yet held out to us. Both North and South have been guilty before God; and the Christian church has a heavy account to answer. Not by combining together, to protect injustice and cruelty, and making a common capital of sin, is this Union to be saved, but by repentance, justice, and mercy.” (American’s God and Country Encyclopedia of Quotes)

We too have a day of grace held out to us, and we are all guilty of complacency. This battle will not be won by sitting on the sidelines, letting wrong after wrong, pass by unnoticed.

I now urge you to get off the bench and fight with me and other men and women to save the unborn. There are many ways you can join in the fight to end abortion.

*Donate time or money to Pro-life organizations *Get informed (www.stand up girl.com/ www.abort73.com)

*Spread the word *pray

Just as Harriet Beecher Stowe said, now is the time to repent, now is the stand up and fight for freedom, do this so that justice and mercy may reign from the womb to the tomb.

Oregon right to life= http://www.ortl.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=21&Itemid=50 - number of abortions 50 mil.

Barack Obama quotes- http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/20/us/politics/20text-obama.html

Harriet Beecher Stowe quote; America’s God and Country Encyclopedia of Quotations by William J. Federer; p. 576