The Roe v. Wade decision was a repudiation of the biblical and Christian commandment and principle which was fundamental to our civilization that human life at all stages is inviolable because man is made in the image of God. Because man has an immortal soul and is destined to eternal union with God in heaven, he has a dignity so great that he cannot be used as the means to an end for someone else. Thus, the Fifth Commandment of God states, “Thou shalt do no murder,” that is, it is contrary to the eternal and universal law of God to kill any innocent person (I am not considering here the separate question of capital punishment).

The principle of the inviolability of the human person from presence in the womb of one’s mother to natural death has been basic to the Christian understanding of society from the first century. Of course, murders did occur and the principle was violated, just as all the Commandments have been violated by some Christians, but the principle was not rejected.

So with Roe v. Wade we have something totally different. Now we have an American society, which is still predominantly Christian, that legally and publicly rejects one of the most fundamental principles of a Christian society, namely, the inviolable right to life of all human persons. The argument of pro-abortionists that the fetus in the womb is not a person is not valid, since birth does not make one a person. The law recognizes this when it protects the right of unborn children to inherit from their parents, which implies that they are already persons. So to legislate that and at the same time to allow abortion is self-contradictory.

It took only about twenty-five years for our culture, now accustomed to killing its young, to move to killing the old. The euthanasia law in Oregon, the first in the nation, now allows the direct taking of the life of those who request it. We know from the experience of Holland, that such laws at first state that death must be requested by the suffering person; but soon the doctors take over and they decide who should live and who should die. The result: many people are put to death against their will by the “compassionate” doctors. Now old people in Holland who go to a hospital have to hire someone to be with them 24 hours a day to make sure that they are not euthanatized by a “caring” doctor.

The point I want to make here is that Roe v. Wade affects all of us. No one is safe. If in our society it is legal to kill some people, then the politically powerful can decide which categories of people have the “PC” quality of life they approve. We must not forget that the Nazis made laws to remove “personhood” from Jews and gypsies and then proceeded to exterminate them as undesireables. It took about twenty years for that monstrosity to develop in German society. Who is to say that the same cannot happen here? The Rubicon has been crossed with Roe v. Wade. The same thing can happen here and it will happen if Roe v. wade is not repudiated and all legalized abortion eliminated from our society. This situation imposes an obligation on all of us to do what we can to return our society to respect for all human life from womb to tomb.