LETTER: Comparing abortion, slavery absurd

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After reading a recent feature letter (Abortion can be abolished, the same way slavery was,” Jan. 13) I feel compelled to comment.

The author attempts to points out the similarities between abortions, slavery, as related to Abraham Lincoln’s abolition tendencies, and the Civil War that ended slavery.

Well I can say, much in the same context as the author of the feature letter, yes, any history teacher will tell you there are no parallels between slavery and abortion. The Civil War was about cotton and economics, expansion of slavery into new territories and state’s rights, and then, by the way, slavery as an afterthought.

Even the great Abraham Lincoln, a president who I personally admire, never thought that African slaves in America were equal to white Americans, and even suggested that they be packed off and sent back to Africa as a means of preserving the Union. To Lincoln, slavery was horrible, but the dissolution of the Union was more horrible and keeping slavery, to Lincoln, was preferable to a civil war.

We can debate for weeks and months and cover hundreds and thousands of pages as to why the Civil War began and the slavery issue, which is long gone, at least in the United States. However, abortion is no comparison to slavery.

I’m a pro-life person. Nonetheless, I believe a woman has the God-given right to decide what happens to her body, and that woman should have the right to decide whether or not she will carry a baby for nine months inside of her body. It’s easy for the author to say what a woman must do — the author is a man and as a man he will never have to make that choice.

Even after the Civil War ended and slavery was abolished in the United States, a free African slave was given more rights as a citizen than any woman in the country, white or black. It took women 50 more years before they had the full rights of citizenship and the right to vote and own property outright without their husband’s approval. Moreover, it was just yesterday, when compared to the 239 years since the birth of the United States, that women were finally given the right to make decisions concerning their own bodies.

We can try to blame President Obama and try our best to take a woman’s rights away and hold the Bible up and say it is God’s choice, but that’s like trying to insist that the Earth is only 4,000 years old, and dinosaurs walked the Earth at the same time as men.

This is the 21st century and this is America. I do not care if a person is a Democrat or a Republican, that’s a personal choice, but to try and push anti-Obama politicking and attempt to push forward the Republican platform and anti-abortion onto the backs of women’s rights is beyond any true American’s comprehension.

Henry Zeeb


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