Time for a federal law prohibiting abortion

In June 2022, The Supreme Court, in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, overturned Roe v. Wade, the decision that defined the law of the land regarding abortion since 1973.

Now we are in active national discourse about which abortion regime will fill this vacuum.

In Roe, the court ruled that the U.S. Constitution provides a right to abortion. The Dobbs decision, written by Justice Samuel Alito, concluded that the U.S. Constitution contains no right to abortion.

Now conventional wisdom seems to be that the abortion issue is "back to the states."

Although Dobbs notes that the Constitution "does not prohibit the citizens of each State from regulating or prohibiting abortion," it concludes saying that it returns "authority ... to the people and their elected representatives."

So, although we know that each state can now regulate abortion as it chooses, is a federal abortion regime now precluded?

I would say regarding a federal regime, such as the Women’s Health Protection Act, pushed by Democrats, the answer is "yes". It can’t be done. Because Dobbs already ruled that the Constitution contains no right to abortion, a federal law allowing abortion cannot be done without amending the Constitution.

But what about a federal law prohibiting abortion, which protects the life of the unborn?

I believe a federal law protecting the life of the unborn is both possible and necessary.

Let’s recall the famous exchange between Pastor Rick Warren and presidential candidate Barack Obama in 2008. Pastor Warren asked Obama, "At what point does a baby get human rights, in your view?" Presidential candidate Obama replied, "Whether you are looking at it from a theological perspective or a scientific perspective, answering that question with specificity is above my pay grade."

How strange to turn leadership of our country over to someone with no clear conclusions about the most fundamental questions about life and death. Of course, with history behind us, we know that the president-to-be then was just being disingenuous. Several years later, he became the first American president to address the national meeting in Washington of Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, and concluded his remarks saying, "God bless you."

Today’s pro-abortion advocates are bolder and clearer than ever in their view that the life in the mother’s womb is simply an appendage to her body, which they claim she owns.

Whenever I hear a woman say "I own my body, I own myself," I want to ask that she produce the bill of sale documenting the transaction when she acquired herself.

Again, our national founding document, the Declaration of Independence, is clear that our rights come from our "Creator" because we come from our "Creator".

But many in our nation have turned a blind eye to this.

Can we force American citizens to believe? No.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. observed that "Morality cannot be legislated, but behavior can be regulated. Judicial decrees may not change the heart, but they can restrain the heartless."

A recent article in The Wall Street Journal discusses the disappearing reality of grandparents. In 2023, per the article, about half of those ages 50 to 90 were grandparents. This is down from 57% in 2018.

We have lost sight that freedom is important because our Creator gave us free choice — the choice to choose between life and death, good and evil.

Our country is in grave danger because of a culture that has emerged in which more and more are choosing death rather than life.

The deadly results are in front of us.

Let’s be honest that the American people need leadership that embraces and buys into a future that is only possible in a free nation under God, in which the choice we make is for life.

Star Parker is president of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education and host of the weekly television show "Cure America with Star Parker."