Subject: America’s Guiding Principle of ‘Individual Liberty’: Why Abortion is Doomed

Psalm 22:10 “From my mother’s womb, You have been my God.”

President Trump knows how to use the media to his advantage, especially in the most controversial and provocative situations. When he nominated DC Circuit Court Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the US Supreme Court to replace retiring Judge Anthony Kennedy’s seat, it was during primetime on television (9 pm), when he could get the greatest national attention. And you couldn’t help really liking Judge Kavanaugh.

“I have two spirited daughters. … Margaret loves sports and she loves to read. Liza loves sports and she loves to talk. I have tried to create bonds with my daughters like my dad created with me. For the past 7 years I have coached my daughter’s basketball teams. The girls on the team call me Coach K.” Who doesn’t like Coach K? As he spoke, the atmosphere in the room was very subdued, relaxed…. and civil.

Why was this a coup for President Trump? First of all, SCOTUS nominees will, if elected, sit on the Court until retirement. So their qualifications and past decisions give the public insight into how they may vote on the most landmark issues America faces. And in his introduction to the American public, Judge Kavanaugh came off as your friendly next door neighbor. Everybody sees him as a very likeable, good person.

President Trump introduced Judge Kavanaugh with these words: “Judge Kavanaugh has impeccable credentials, unsurpassed qualifications, and a proven commitment to equal justice under the law.” For the past 12 years, Kavanaugh has presided as a judge on the second most powerful court in America. He also teaches law at both Harvard and Yale. His reputation as a Judge and scholar is without question.

He is also vouched for by his peers. In his article entitled ‘A Liberal’s Case for Brett Kavanaugh’, Yale law professor Akhil Reed Amar endorsed Kavanaugh with these words: “Most judges are not scholars or even serious readers of scholarship. Judge Kavanaugh, by contrast, is an avid consumer of legal scholarship. He reads and learns. And he reads scholars from across the political spectrum. This studiousness is especially important for a jurist like Judge Kavanaugh, who prioritizes the Constitution’s original meaning. A judge who seeks merely to follow precedent can simply read previous judicial opinions. But an ‘originalist’ judge – who also cares about what the Constitution meant when its words were ratified in 1788 or when amendments were enacted – cannot do all the historical and conceptual legwork on his or her own.”

Now we see his glaring ‘flaw’ that is causing many in our country to start working to block his election to SCOTUS. He is a Constitutionalist, and an originalist. Why is this a problem? Because our Constitution’s 14th Amendment protects the right to life: “No State shall deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

Every person in the US is entitled to life. Kavanaugh, being a Constitutional originalist, will decide cases accordingly. And it is a fact that at conception, personhood begins. Even abortion advocates concede this. Bernard Nathanson, who co-founded one of the most influential abortion advocacy groups in the world (NARAL) and served as medical director for the largest abortion clinic in America, wrote this in a 1974 article in the New England Journal of Medicine: “There is no longer serious doubt in my mind that human life exists within the womb from the very onset of pregnancy.” An unborn baby in the womb is a person.

Remember what was the basis for SCOTUS’s majority opinion in the 1973 Roe-vs.-Wade case, which legalized abortion?: “The judiciary, at this point in the development of man’s knowledge, is not in a position to… resolve the difficult question of when life begins… since those trained in the respective disciplines of medicine, philosophy, and theology are unable to arrive at any consensus.”

Even Dr. Nathanson was incredulous at the reasoning behind the SCOTUS decision: “While I was pleased with Blackmun’s conclusions, I could not plumb the ethical or medical reasoning that had produced the conclusions. Our final victory had been propped up on a misreading of obstetrics, gynecology, and embryology, and that’s a dangerous way to win.” SCOTUS denied the scientific fact that unborn babies are human beings, so the most innocent, defenseless US citizens were left unprotected by the Constitutional right to life.

But this nice guy, this imminently qualified scholar, this Constitutionally-focused judge, will be the deciding decision in any abortion-related case that makes it to SCOTUS. Planned Parenthood’s article, entitled ‘Urgent! Reject Brett Kavanaugh’s Dangerous Supreme Court Nomination’ says it all: “The crisis is here. Trump just announced Brett Kavanaugh as his pick for our next Supreme Court justice – which means our constitutional right to access abortion is at risk.” Actually, it’s time the Constitutional right to life is enforced.

Ed Croteau is a resident of Lee’s Summit and hosts a weekly study in Lees Summit called “Faith: Substance and Evidence.” He can be reached with your questions through the Lee’s Summit Tribune at [email protected].