Last week, as this New York Times editorial reports, a federal appeals court argued that a young pregnant woman who has illegally immigrated to the United States and is requesting an abortion has the constitutional right to obtain one. As Albert Mohler points out on his podcast The Briefing, this claim of the young woman’s constitutional right not only shows a warped view of U.S. law but also reveals the ideology of secular culture.
In the opening paragraph of the article, the New York Times editorial board claims that “[t]he Constitution grants her that right [to an abortion]” and that “the Trump administration is determined to subvert it as part of its war on women’s reproductive rights.” In his discussion of the editorial, Mohler draws attention to the writers’ total disregard of the actual content of the United States Constitution when it comes to this issue. Their claim overlooks the fact that no language in the Constitution guarantees the right of abortion to non-citizens or even actual U.S. citizens. In fact, the Constitution says absolutely nothing about such rights, says Mohler.
Nevertheless, the editors argue for the abortion of this young woman’s child because, in their worldview, the right of a woman to abort an unborn child is crucial to liberating women as a race. Mohler writes, “Any infringement of that right, any restriction of that right, any recognition of the right to life of that unborn child, even any legal recognition of the child, is considered to be the great impediment to the liberty that women are owed under the U. S. Constitution, and that is central to the modern liberal, secular understanding of what it means to be human, and in- in particular what it means to be a woman.”
The strong ideological dedication to this right of abortion explains the strong language used by the editorial board in the article. From the beginning to the end of the article, they are quick to condemn their ideological opponents of injustice and discrimination. Mohler calls their words “bellicose language, the language of war,” noting their readiness to pull these strong terms into the conversation.
So, although the writers blame the administration of “warping policy to their beliefs,” advocates on their own side of the ideological divide have tried to do just the same by insisting on the right of both citizens and non-citizens to abort unborn babies on United States soil.
Leah Hickman is a 2017 graduate of Hillsdale College’s English program. She has written pieces for multiple Hillsdale College campus publications as well as for BreakPoint.org, ChristianAnswers.net/Spotlight, and the Discover Laura Blog. Read more by Leah at aworldofgrasspeople.blogspot.com.
Photo courtesy: ©Thinkstock/interstid
Publication date: October 24, 2017
