On March 6, 1857, the United

States Supreme Court issued a decision that would have far reaching and

tragic results. In the landmark Dred Scott decision the court ruled once

and for all that black people were not legal "persons" according

to the Constitution of the United States. The court ruled that a slave

was literally the property of his owner and could be bought, sold, used,

or even killed at the owner's discretion.

Pro-slavery advocates were

relieved. The court had spoken. Never again would they be troubled by

those who would insist that slaves were persons, that they had the right

to be free, the right to live, or the right to anything.

In a real sense, those who

supported the Dred Scott decision were pro-choice. In their view, the

owner of the slave had the right to chose to buy, sell, use, abuse, or

kill his property. These early pro-choice advocates believed that abolitionists

should not attempt to impose their morality on the slave owner. After

all, slavery is legal (the Supreme Court said so), and the abolitionists

should obey the law of the land.

Yet, there were others who,

in the view of the slaves, were "pro-life" (for, indeed, these

nineteenth century abolitionists worked and struggled to enable the black

slaves to have the most fundamental of rights the right to life).

Quietly, men and women of conscience

worked to help slaves escape to freedom. They protested, they lobbied,

and they used their influence, money, and abilities to assert that black

people were, in spite of the law, persons. Black people were not property

and slave owners did not have the moral right to buy, sell, or kill, regardless

of the law of the land. Ultimately 600,000 Americans died in a great civil

war to overturn the immoral and repugnant Dred Scott decision. Today,

no one doubts that the Supreme Court was in error and that the Dred Scott

decision was wrong, immoral, and unconscionable.

On Jan. 22, 1973, the United

States Supreme Court decided once and for all that unborn humans were

not persons, that they were the property of the biological mother, and

that the mother could do what ever she wanted with her property, including

kill it. Pro-choice advocates triumphantly proclaimed that abortion was

the law of the land, should be obeyed, and that the twentieth century

"pro-life" advocates should not attempt to impose their morality

on others.

Yet, reminiscent of the Dred

Scott situation, those who favor the abolition of abortion continue to

work, protest, lobby, influence, and use their money and talents to defend

the rights of this most powerless of oppressed minorities the unborn.

In 1857, neither the Whigs

nor the Democrats were known for their antislavery sentiments, In fact,

Southern Democrats were solidly behind the Dred Scott decision and were

among the most vocal of slavery proponents. It would take a Republican

president to do what the Congress and Supreme Court refused to do. Abraham

Lincoln freed the slaves and, finally, blacks were no longer non-persons

or mere property. By and large, Southern Democrats would fight and oppose

equal rights for blacks for the next 100 years.

The Supreme Court and the Democrats

were wrong on Dred Scott 143 years ago and they are just as wrong on abortion

today. History will eventually demonstrate that abortion is just as wrong,

immoral, and unconscionable as slavery.

As long as the national Democratic

Party continues, by its official support of abortion, to oppress and destroy

this fragile minority, I will continue to vote against Democratic candidates

at every opportunity. Wrong is still wrong, whether the issue is the enslavement

of blacks or the wholesale genocide of America's unwanted unborn children.

[Father David Epps is rector

of Christ the King Church in Peachtree City. He may be contacted at www.ChristTheKingCEC.com

or at [email protected].]