An American Holocaust
1945 marked the end of one of the greatest attempts to eliminate a specific group of people in the history of our world. Although no one would disagree that the Holocaust was evil, there are some who would disagree that it merits distinction as the greatest example. One of the most controversial issues in our nation has been the moral dilemma over the practice of abortion. While studying the Holocaust, I could not help noticing the similarities between the introduction and acceptance of these two horrific events.
During the rise of the Nazi party in Germany in the 1920-30’s, the party’s platform was based on the animosity that resulted from the Treaty of Versailles. The German army was on foreign soil and was not in any way losing or being defeated. However the diplomatic choice to sign the Treaty, forcing Germany’s surrender, caused them to become the losers in the First World War. This caused them to try to find someone to blame for their defeat. The common thought was that someone at home had stabbed them in the back, causing them to lose the war without being defeated. The Communists and the Social Democrats of Germany suffered first for this supposed crime.
As Hitler came to power in 1933, he was already developing the means with which to eliminate his enemies and to achieve a perfect Aryan race. The Germans also had a long standing hatred of the Jewish people. Although this hatred had died down and its importance been replaced by other matters, it still existed in the background. Along with the Jews, Gypsies, Polish, physically and mentally disabled, homosexuals, and other political opponents were on the list of undesirable people who were targeted for extermination.
After Hitler came to power, he began to pass legislation that, at first, was tolerated as mild. He limited the businesses of Jews and made them put special stickers on their shops windows. Later, the legislation worsened. He took all Jews businesses and gave them to non-Jews to run. By 1940, Jews had no rights, no freedoms, and were being consolidated into ghettos and prison camps. The Nazi’s saw Jews and those others who were “not fit for life as a German” as merely excess baggage and easily “liquidated”. They were inconvenient to have in society, so they were disposed of.
The more I think about this example of mass genocide, the more I am struck by the parallels between the Holocaust and the practice of abortion.
The movement to legalize abortion began in 1859 when the American Medical Association unanimously adopted a resolution that condemned the use of abortion in any period of gestation, except when the mother’s life or the child’s life was in imminent danger. Even though this was not legal to practice, it was the publicized statement of the AMA.
But by 1900, one in six pregnancies were being aborted. However, the public authorities greatly disapproved of this and the penalties for abortion were made stricter.
It was not until the mid-1900’s that the status of the unborn child was challenged. Until this point, the unborn child in the womb was considered a child, a live human being. Imagine that! But groups in the US began to appear that argued that “unborn life was not life after all”. Many quickly grabbed this idea and ran with it. This idea was mainly accepted because of the context of that time period. The sixties and seventies were characterized by free love. Sometimes with free love also comes a free present: a baby! By accepting this idea, they were eliminating a nuisance that to them was inconvenient and expendable.
In 1973, the Supreme Court legalized abortion by striking down most of the anti-abortion laws that existed. In the next few decades, the Supreme Court made other decisions that expanded, specialized, and even trivialized abortive ideas. By doing this, they were giving the public the reasoning they could use to kill people that inconvenienced them, or put them in a difficult situation. Does this sound familiar?
One of the most interesting points that I found is that the historical basis for abortion begins in the middle ages. Those who were sick or disabled during the Black Death were killed or buried along with the dead to inhibit the spread of the disease. It was labeled Euthanasia. Euthanasia is defined as “The act or practice of ending the life of an individual suffering from a terminal illness or an incurable condition, as by lethal injection or the suspension of extraordinary medical treatment.” This would include mentally ill people, physically disabled people, psychotics, hypochondriac, or anyone else you want to get rid of.
The next great example of Euthanasia is, you guessed it, the Holocaust. It is from this I draw the conclusion that the basis for abortion is the removal of an inconvenience or the cessation of a life in order to protect another life from social distress or mental anguish. The precedent for abortion on the scale that American uses it is in the Holocaust. Anyone who was less the perfect according to the standards set down by the German government was killed or left to die.
I submit to you that the right to choose is not how it is construed. It is the right to choose who you want to live and who you want dead. It is taking the power of life and death out of the hands of the Creator and placing it in the hands of a mortal. When Hitler did this it resulted in the destruction of two-thirds of the Jewish race. Today, one out of four births is aborted. Can we say that Hitler was a monster who killed indiscriminately when we have blood on our hands? I suggest that we live in a land of double standards and that we are hypocrites if we do not speak out against the crimes that our country allows within its borders.