GUEST COLUMN

(10/30/2006)

Is Referred Law 6 Unconstitutional and Un-American?

By CLARK JONES

South Dakotans have been told that the law banning virtually all abortions is unconstitutional, un-American, and extremist. Our constitutional system of government is based on clearly defined principles laid out in our founding documents including the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Northwest Ordinance, which is the compact for statehood.

The Declaration, in laying out the basis for freedom and justice, and the right to self-governance for the American people, gave as that foundation the unalienable rights to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. The Constitution provides for government to "establish justice", as we read in the purpose statement at the beginning of that document.

Amendments 5 and 14 to the United States Constitution provide for the protection of these unalienable rights, meaning rights which may not be transferred. The 5th Amendment declares that no "person" may "be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law;". The 14th Amendment was written to require States to give equal protection under the law to all "persons".

This Amendment was ratified July 9, 1868, for the purpose of establishing, once and for all, that no person, no special interest group, and no part of our government has the authority to define who is, or is not, a person. They could not pick and choose who to protect under the law. The question of "personhood" is the defining question of this issue, not the question of whether privacy has been violated.

Pro-choice proponents insist that a "woman’s right to choose" be absolutely protected. They insist that only doctors can tell us when life begins. By advocating that doctors be given that kind of power they literally declare that a special interest group be given an unconstitutional power to determine who is, or is not, a person.

At what point, then, does a doctor not have the right to decide this question. At what point in a person’s march toward adulthood can we say they are not a person? Do we become a person when we marry and have our own family? Is it when we turn 18? Do we assume the rights of personhood at puberty? These are legitimate questions, because what the abortion advocates won’t tell you is that they have allies in the field of bio-ethics who are currently arguing for the killing of children up through ages 2, and some beyond, if the parents want to make that "choice". Why should parents not have that "right", either because of birth defects, or because of ADD/ADHD?

At what point in pre-birth development does life begin? At what trimester? It must be at the point at which a person will continue to develop toward adulthood, unless something or someone interferes in that development either by violently taking that life, or by denying the sustenance necessary to continue that life. That point is at conception, because the inexorable march toward adulthood has begun.

The fact is that doctors do not have the constitutional authority to determine when that is, because they do not have the moral authority. Because the United States Supreme Court unconstitutionally granted them that power, nothing is sacred. Life should be, our Declaration of Independence declares it to be so. It is a sacred gift of life from our Creator, and may not be transferred into the hands of anyone without completely dismantling the foundation of all freedom and justice. If doctors and politicians have the right to determine who among us is a person, what else can they possibly be denied the right to determine?

This brings up the second question the pro-choice advocates don’t want to discuss, and that is that many of these same people advocate many unconstitutional ideas regarding liberty. Walter Mondale, in the 1984 campaign for President, declared his view that children are property of the state. That is a legitimate view if personhood is the legitimate domain of government to decide. At what point does a person begin to be property of the state, or in fact, of parents? Are children the property of their parents, or are they a trust, given by the Creator who gave the life?

At what point does a person cease to be property? We are either always property, or never property of either government, parents, or even ourselves. If we acknowledge human ownership of an individual life, we open the way for perpetual war over who has ownership. Our founding documents provided for no such war. They firmly declared that Life is the gift of the Creator, and therefore a trust. Life is sacred. It may not be taken, except for just cause, and by due process.

The Declaration of Independence refers to the Laws of Nature, and of Nature’s God. This was a direct reference to ideas expounded on in William Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England. He wrote in his introduction, "And consequently as man depends absolutely upon his maker for everything, it is necessary that he should in all points conform to his maker’s will. This will of his maker is called the law of nature."

South Dakotans will be the first Americans in our nation’s history to vote directly on an issue of whether we accept the very foundations of the United States Constitution. Those who vote to repeal the anti-abortion law will literally be voting to undermine the foundation of freedom and justice. Abortion is, and always has been, unconstitutional, and fundamentally un-American. What some call extremist is the very foundation of freedom and justice in America.

VOTE YES ON REFERRED LAW 6

Clark Jones is a Missionary Chaplain to the judicial system from Bethel Baptist Church in Rapid City, South Dakota.