{"id":1641532,"date":"2022-09-15T08:03:56","date_gmt":"2022-09-15T12:03:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1641532"},"modified":"2022-09-15T08:04:40","modified_gmt":"2022-09-15T12:04:40","slug":"yes-outlawing-the-barbarism-of-abortion-was-always-the-goal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/yes-outlawing-the-barbarism-of-abortion-was-always-the-goal\/","title":{"rendered":"Yes, Outlawing The Barbarism Of Abortion Was Always The Goal"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fyes-outlawing-the-barbarism-of-abortion-was-always-the-goal%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1641532&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>With Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham\u2019s introduction on Tuesday of a ban on killing children in the womb after 15 weeks of pregnancy (with strictly enumerated exceptions), pro-abortion leftists are feigning shock and horror at Republicans\u2019 supposed reversal from the pro-federalism arguments that accompanied the Supreme Court\u2019s return of abortion law to state legislatures in its <em>Dobbs v. Jackson<\/em> decision this past summer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was never about states\u2019 rights,\u201d Democrat Rep. Eric Swalwell <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RepSwalwell\/status\/1569707486197817344?s=20&amp;t=vn5B3qmDCbm606yJgVawbg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">huffed<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDemocrats have repeatedly warned voters that Republicans will pursue a national abortion ban. Lindsey Graham is proving them right,\u201d MSNBC <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/rachel-maddow-show\/maddowblog\/earlier-vows-lindsey-graham-eyes-national-abortion-ban-rcna47523?cid=sm_npd_ms_tw_ma\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">boasted<\/a>, as if pro-life hopes to eliminate the moral stain of abortion were some big secret.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor the hard right, this has never been about states\u2019 rights,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/legal\/us-senate-republican-lindsey-graham-unveils-abortion-bill-ahead-midterms-2022-09-13\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a> Democrat Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. \u201cNo, for MAGA Republicans, this has always been about making abortion illegal everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese Republicans cheered abortion policy going to states. They are also sponsoring a federal ban,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/2022\/09\/07\/these-republicans-cheered-abortion-policy-going-states-they-are-also-sponsoring-federal-ban\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">headlined<\/a> a Glenn Kessler article in The Washington Post. \u201cThis would seem to be a direct contradiction to the idea that states could chart their own course,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRepublicans aren\u2019t even trying to hide it,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/HillaryClinton\/status\/1569728235599962115?s=20&amp;t=vn5B3qmDCbm606yJgVawbg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">hand-wrung<\/a> failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s either disingenuous, constitutionally illiterate, or both for Democrats to claim that a Republican push to ban some or all abortions at the federal level is out of line with the pro-life movement\u2019s goal of the past 50 years. Of course we aren\u2019t hiding it, Hillary. We\u2019ve been calling for a stop to the barbaric practice of abortion for decades, and the partial victory that <em>Dobbs<\/em> delivered isn\u2019t going to make us slow down.<\/p>\n<h2>Overturning <em>Roe <\/em>Was Never the End<\/h2>\n<p>It was a brainless misreading of the conservative celebration over <em>Dobbs<\/em> to think the pro-life consensus was a satisfied, hands-off-the-wheel declaration that \u201cabortion decisions are back in the hands of the states like they should be,\u201d as one operations director for an abortion facility <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/robinmarty\/status\/1569699721488527362?s=20&amp;t=vn5B3qmDCbm606yJgVawbg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">put it<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, we lauded <em>Dobbs<\/em> for lifting the federal ban on protecting life at the state level. And we pointed out the obvious inconsistency of pro-abortion leftists claiming this return of federalism and lawmaking authority to elected state leaders was somehow a massive abuse of the Supreme Court\u2019s power. <\/p>\n<p>The court had unjustly and unconstitutionally appointed itself the arbiter of abortion law in 1973, and the willful relinquishment of that power is clearly not judicial overreach. To claim it was is obvious fearmongering.<\/p>\n<p>To Schumer\u2019s point, the fight against abortion (much less Graham\u2019s middle-of-the-road 15-week ban) is no radical far-right agenda item. Republicans have been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2013\/03\/07\/us\/arkansas-adopts-restrictive-abortion-law.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">advancing<\/a> similar and more pro-life bills at the state level for years, far before the \u201cMAGA\u201d term Schumer uses so derisively was coined. The U.S. House of Representatives <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/story\/2013\/06\/house-debating-tough-anti-abortion-bill-093011\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">passed<\/a> a 20-week abortion ban nearly a decade ago. <\/p>\n<p>One of the only reasons Republicans weren\u2019t passing more abortion bans sooner was the unconstitutional hurdle called <em>Roe<\/em>. <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/09\/13\/make-democrats-defend-their-abortion-extremism\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Additionally<\/a>, nearly every country in the European Union has more restrictive abortion laws than Graham\u2019s proposed 15-week ban, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/support-for-15-week-abortion-ban-outweighs-opposition-wsj-poll-finds-11648821601\">polls<\/a> find more support than opposition for bans on abortion after 15 weeks among Americans.<\/p>\n<h2>A Federal Abortion Ban Is Perfectly Constitutional<\/h2>\n<p>It\u2019s equally ignorant to claim that a federal protection of human life in the womb is an abuse of constitutional powers, to the level of the Supreme Court\u2019s abusive <em>Roe<\/em> decision or otherwise. Unlike a president with no legislative authority using student loan \u201cforgiveness\u201d to buy votes or waging a political war on American energy or siccing the FBI on political enemies, protecting the lives of citizens <em>is<\/em> one of the responsibilities and powers of government. It\u2019s why we have criminal laws against murder, why we have a military, and one of the rights to which we understand the 14th Amendment guarantees equal protection. <\/p>\n<p>Laws protecting life do sometimes limit the actions of others \u2014 murder laws restrict the actions of murderers \u2014 but there\u2019s no legitimate movement advocating for killers\u2019 \u201cfreedom to choose\u201d to kill. Unlike the Supreme Court\u2019s abuse of power in its <em>Roe<\/em> decision, a federal abortion ban done right is perfectly constitutional and even arguably called for by the Constitution and its guaranteed liberties.<\/p>\n<p>Besides the obvious disregard for the protection of human life in the Supreme Court\u2019s <em>Roe<\/em> decision, there were two constitutional problems with that decision\u2019s mandate that would not be present in a congressionally approved abortion ban.<\/p>\n<p>First, Congress is a lawmaking entity, while the court is not. The justices in <em>Roe<\/em> arbitrarily <a href=\"https:\/\/supreme.justia.com\/cases\/federal\/us\/410\/113\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">decided<\/a> to set the viability standard (about 24 weeks) as the law of the land on abortion, and barred elected representatives of the people from protecting life at earlier stages. <\/p>\n<p>Yet the court is tasked solely with deciding questions of constitutionality (i.e., whether a constitutional right to abortion or right to life exists), not writing statutes (i.e., abortions are or aren\u2019t allowed in these circumstances after this many weeks). Legislatures, on the other hand \u2014 state or national \u2014 are tasked with precisely the latter. <\/p>\n<p>Second, there has never been any constitutional barrier to the government <em>further<\/em> recognizing and defending constitutionally protected freedoms, such as the right to life. (On the other hand, there is something \u2014 namely, our constitutional system \u2014 prohibiting federal infringement on those rights.) <\/p>\n<p>Congress\u2019s extension of constitutional freedoms to emancipated slaves via the 14th and 15th Amendments was not an abuse of power, but a correction of its abuse. For Congress to use its lawmaking authority to extend constitutional protections to those who always should have had them is not overreach but governance. A federal law protecting the unborn from being killed for the crime of being unwanted would do just that.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p>\n  Elle Purnell is an assistant editor at The Federalist, and received her B.A. in government from Patrick Henry College with a minor in journalism. Follow her work on Twitter @_etreynolds.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-comments mt-30 mt-sm-60\">\n<div class=\"article-comments-container d-flex flex-column align-items-center py-30\">\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"110\" height=\"106\" src=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/fdrlst-mark.svg\" class=\"img-fluid mb-20\" alt=\"The Federalist logo eagle mark\" \/>    <\/p>\n<p>Unlock commenting by joining the Federalist Community.<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/plans\/pricing\/\" class=\"btn btn-on-white\">Subscribe<\/a>  <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham\u2019s introduction on Tuesday of a ban on killing children in the womb after 15 weeks of pregnancy (with strictly enumerated exceptions), pro-abortion leftists are feigning<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1353,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1641532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1641532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1353"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1641532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1641532\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1641532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1641532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1641532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}