Book Review: Abortion v Slavery by Olivia Murray
Olivia Murray Abortion v. Slavery details how arguments for both slavery and abortion were similar beginning with her first chapter “Dehumanize the Condemned Population,” where she details how Blacks were dehumanized. She wrote, “To influence the public and culturally reinforce the notion, victimizers primarily utilize a misleading lexicon and inaccurate depictions of slavery and abortion,” and observed many Black people were depicted as monkeys in both features and characteristic and words like the n word were designed to portrayed Black people “as uncivilized with very little cognitive skills.”
Abortions supporters refer to unborn babies as clump of cells or as parasites to the woman. The unborn child is not seen as a human or a potential human but no different than a wort to be removed. Phrases like “product of conception” lessen the idea that the unborn child is exactly that, an unborn child.
The key element in the abortion debate is how many within the pro-abortion movement tried to eliminate the idea that the unborn child is a baby or will become a baby. National Review John McCormack observed about the recent attempt by Democrats to allow abortions in all nine month in their Woman’s Protection Act, “Democrats have made a big, risky bet on a bill that strikes down parental-consent laws and enshrines a right to abortion through all nine months of pregnancy in all 50 states.” These laws are the results of a mindset that no longer view the unborn as a human being and thus expendable.
Strategy involving abortions by many Republican states including heartbeat bills which means that abortions will be restricted if a heartbeat is detected or the Mississippi laws which restrict abortions at 15 weeks. What these laws have in common is that they are recognizing humanity of the unborn but differ in timing of restrictions of abortion. 15 weeks laws still allow the majority of abortions to occurred and the heartbeat laws is dependent on when the heartbeat can be heard on how many abortions will be prevented. Even with the heartbeat laws, many abortions would still be allowed but the laws make it clear that baby is a human being deserving of life. The real questions these laws have is when does the life of the baby take precedence or when does the mother have the right to terminate her pregnancy? Murray point is that pro-abortionist strategy of dehumanizing the unborn is an attempt to short circuit the debate by denying the unborn has any humanity just as the debate over slavery began with slavery defender denying Black people their humanity. If you convince people that the unborn is not human, then abortion is not big deal but if people believe in the humanity of the unborn, then the abortion regime days are numbered. The Dobbs case before the Supreme Court may begin the process of rolling back pro-abortion laws, depending upon how Supreme Court decide.
Murray chapter on “Invoke Compassion and Sympathy” follows up on the dehumanization of the unborn by noting aborting the unborn will be good for the baby if the baby is born unwanted by the mother. Slavery advocates would argue that Black people benefitted by slavery since they would be taken care of. Murray observed even if the unborn child is born unwanted, “This ignores all the other variable and factors could reasonably lead to a positive outcome for children conceived in unplanned pregnancies.”
She pokes hole in the argument that society benefits from less government services being used to saving the planet by reducing planet population to preserve our resources and reduce use of fossil fuels to reduce greenhouse gas emission. This argument ignores the positive benefit of people. The environmental movement have been wrong with much of their predictions over the past half of century as the planet is getting greener, we are feeding more people better diets and we are seeing a planet getting wealthier, all of which was not predicated by many of these environmental activists. Murray point is that there are variables cannot be discounted and one should not underestimate human ingenuity. People are not a negative asset to society but a positive necessity to a wealthier society.
Murray deals with the issue that you cannot legislate morality as she notes when argument is made, women will still get abortions, “Pro-life acknowledges that reality -just as people are still going to commit murder, rape, theft, etc.” People still get murdered even though murder is outlaw. She detailed after legalization, that abortions skyrocketed the first decade after Roe v. Wade and today, abortions are declining over the past decade as states put restrictions just as parental notifications and many Americans are becoming more pro-life. The abortion crowd goes for more radical approach to abortion with abortion legal tup to birth and former Virginia governor Ralph Northam have even gone as far as infanticide as he told one radio interview, ““If a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen. The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that is what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.”
This book is a short read and will give you the facts you need to defend pro-life position and allows you to make comparison to slavery and how the argument to defend slavery are similar to promoting abortions. These comparisons are apt since Black people are three times more likely to be aborted than white babies and in New York city, more Black babies are aborted than born.
Ms. Murray book is available on Amazon.com or you can email Ms. Murray at olivia@lucusa.org and she will ship it to you.