The priority of defending life

This past week, news broke that the Republican Party was contemplating dropping its consistent commitment to the sanctity of all human life from conception to natural death. This move signals a betrayal of not only the American people but also American principles. Next week, the party has one last chance to strengthen the platform ahead of November’s election. To reaffirm a strong pro-life platform would not only be morally right but thoroughly American.

“Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness”: These are the unalienable rights articulated in the founding document that gave birth to this great nation. Written in 1776, the Declaration of Independence set forth these rights as the groundwork of not only the unfolding Revolution but also the foundation of a just society on the other side.

Where do these fundamental rights come from? The declaration states these rights are endowed by our Creator who created all men equal. These rights do not originate from government but from God. The role of government is to recognize, secure, and protect these rights. But human governments serve under a higher Authority to whom all men under heaven may appeal in the face of injustice. These rights are unalienable, meaning every person’s claim on them may not be diminished by any merely human authority for merely human reasons. They are innate, not owing to the nature of government but to the nature of man as created by God. Therefore, they are not subject to the whims of man but to the laws of God. In unmatched prose, America’s Declaration of Independence reminded the world of these truths, heralding the birth of a nation that would stand for all men’s right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

The declaration also declared these truths to be self-evident. They require no justification because they accord with the way God created the world to be. These truths are in line with, to borrow another phrase from the declaration, the “Laws of Nature and Nature’s God.” This phrase indicates the tradition on which America is built. Grounded in Judeo-Christian thought and undergirding Western civilization, the natural law tradition enumerates several basic goods that constitute the well-being of man. These goods inform the rights that are proper to man. They include life, wisdom and knowledge, personal integrity, marriage and family, human and divine relationship, and meaningful work.

Without a robust defense of the sanctity of life, nothing else matters. The right to life is the fundamental right apart from which no other right has meaning. This is not hyperbole. Consider carefully. What is the value of liberty if there isn’t someone to exercise freedom? What is happiness without someone to pursue and enjoy it? What is property without someone to possess it? What is friendship, laughter, work, and play if one isn’t allowed to live?

The turning point on abortion was the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision of 1973. The clear and self-evident language of America’s founding documents protecting the lives of all persons was now restricted to those who were born. Persons in the womb would no longer enjoy federal protection of their inalienable right to life.

In response to Roe, in 1976, the Republican Party, the party of Abraham Lincoln, added language to its platform to speak for the unborn and reaffirm its commitment to America’s founding principles. This commitment was the consistent political witness of the GOP for more than 40 years when in 2022, the Supreme Court reversed the decision of its activist predecessors, overturning Roe and handing the issue back to the states. This action was in no small part directly related to Donald Trump’s pro-life court appointments, in line with the GOP’s then-pro-life platform.

But today, the Republican Party is contemplating a change to its consistent pro-life witness. The proposed platform states a commitment to stand for “families and Life,” but it is schizophrenic and inconsistent in the moral language that follows. Importantly, the proposal recognizes the 14th Amendment to the Constitution guarantees the right to life for all persons, implying but failing to name the unborn. But then it calls on states to pass laws to protect life. Which is it? Does the 14th Amendment—and the Fifth—protect life?

The proposed platform goes on to oppose late-term abortion, which is insufficient to protect the weakest and most vulnerable early on in pregnancy. The platform also supports birth control and in vitro fertilization without untangling the abortifacient realities involved in these practices.

Apart from life, rights and freedom and property and conscience are meaningless. But with the right to life secured, we can more securely build a life together in this great nation, with liberty and justice for all. And we should really mean all.