Editor's note: LifeSiteNews is pleased to bring you this open letter from Lydia Keogh to all Members of UK Parliament regarding the potential repeal of Sections 58 and 59 of the Offenses Against the Person Act 1861.
September 20, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – I often wonder what people would do if slavery was legal today. If it were legal to buy and sell slaves, who were not “persons” with human rights but the property of their owners, then we would legally be able to beat, torture and abuse these people with the security and protection of the law behind us.
What would the people in our society do, today?
I think we could divide them into five schools of attitude:
- Those who own the slaves, through choice. These people spend their lives convincing people and themselves of the inhumanity of these slaves. Therefore, in justifying their use of them, through whatever argument (whether logical or not) and thus, gaining popular consensus, they find justification for their position…I mean, if most people agree, then it must be right? Right?
- Those who find themselves owners of slaves – through inheritance. So in a way, they had “no choice” in being a slave owner. They inherited these slaves from their family. Society tells them this is their only option…So, feeling they have no other option, they keep the slaves. What would become of these slave owners if they sold their slaves? As society supports the owning of slaves, these slave owners find no way out of the system.
- Those who do not own slaves, but neither do they oppose it directly. Their attitude is: “Well, if that person wants a slave, then let them have one”…“I wouldn’t personally own a slave, BUT it’s their choice, who am I to stand in their way?” “It’s law anyway; let them get on with it.” These are the apathetic – they simply do not care.
- Those who do not own slaves, but if the opportunity arose to have a slave, through circumstance, whatever that circumstance may be, would seriously consider it. They want the law there, just in case and they placate their consciences by convincing themselves that they’re not slave owners…yet.
- Those who do not fit into any category above. They see the humanity of the slave. This humanity results in this slave having human rights and therefore, this “anti-slavery” lobby cannot sit and do nothing, but rather, they cry out at the top of their voices of the injustice and evil of such acts. They’re against the law of slavery and spend their lives fighting for the abolition of slavery, and a change in the law. They face ridicule and are ostracised from society. They fight, not for their own gain, but because they recognise the unique humanity of the individual and they simply live by the saying “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” They are the William Wilberforces of society.
Now consider the first question that I asked: What would people in our society do, today? Would you be a No. 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5? I would hope we would unanimously agree that we would all be a No. 5! We are forever grateful for all those people who were a no.5, resulting in the emancipation of these people, called slaves. If it was us in this situation, when the abolition of slavery came about, and our grandchildren asked us, “what was your part in it, what did you do?” we would proudly state our role as a no.5. After all, we would have been part of the emancipation of thousands of people. How could we possibly tell our children or grandchildren that we were a no.1, 2, 3 or 4?
I can boldly argue that the same questions and categories can be directly applied to abortion, as follows:
- Those who promote abortion and seek to spread abortion; they prey on the naivety and vulnerability of people. By gaining popular consensus, they convince themselves that the evil they are spreading is the right thing to do.
- Those who find themselves seeking abortion through circumstances out of their control. Society says, “You must have an abortion”. Society doesn’t help them or give them another option, but both the law and doctors place these women in an impossible position where they see abortion as their only option. They become victims of the system.
- Those who don’t care about abortion and they simply let everyone, on both sides of the argument, get on with it. It’s their choice, who am I to stop them? It’s “law”, who am I to say it’s wrong? Who am I to judge? They are apathetic.
- Those who haven’t had an abortion, but want the law there just in case. The law is available if they need it. A selfish reason really as they allow huge injustices to take place but yet, secretly, would welcome it themselves. They don’t care if women are forced into abortion, threatened with homelessness or suffer as a result; they just care about themselves and keeping the law there for their own need.
- The pro-life lobby. They see the humanity of the unborn. This humanity results in this foetus having human rights and therefore, this “pro-life” lobby cannot sit and do nothing, but rather, they cry out at the top of their voices of the injustice and evil of such acts. They’re against the law of abortion and spend their lives fighting for the abolition of abortion, and a change in the law – they face ridicule and are ostracised from society. They fight, not for their own gain, but because they recognise the unique humanity of the individual and they simply live by the saying “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
Now consider the first question that I asked: What would people in our society do, today? Would you be a No. 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5? Is your answer different?
If you argue that slavery is different and that it was obvious that slaves had human rights, then you argue for human rights outside of what the political laws dictate. You declare that political laws can be wrong when they define humanity. So therefore, you will immediately agree when I say, just because something is “law”, it doesn’t mean that it is “right” or “just”.
In the wake of the current political move to decriminalise abortion and to remove the protections given to the unborn as laid down in Sections 58 and 59 of the Offenses Against the Person Act 1861, society has become the slave owners. Not only will society arrogantly seek to define who is a person or not, but will open the floodgates to mass murder and the killing of the unborn on a mass scale – no time limits, no reasons, just the cold-hearted killing of any unborn baby, for any reason. These unborn babies are our modern slaves.
If you argue for the human rights of the mother trumping that of the unborn child and thus, for the decriminalisation of abortion, you argue that some humans are more “human” than others…Hmm, isn’t that what the slave owners did? Isn’t this a complete denial of science, let alone of any morality?
If the decriminalisation of abortion takes place, our government will be no different to the government which allowed for the owning and selling of slaves, for they have decided to define who is a person and who has human rights or not. If our country decriminalises abortion, and you support this move, you cannot then condemn the founders of slavery. In fact, you CAN’T condemn slavery at all. As, at that point in time, these slaves were defined as “non-human” or “non-persons” and thus, having no human rights; just as unborn children are defined as non-human-non-persons, having no human rights. We look back in hindsight and say slavery was wrong, but who is to say that in 50 years time, people will not look back on the Abortion laws, and say the same?
The question is simple. We either all have human rights, or none of us do. Slaves are persons with human rights; the unborn are persons with human rights. Your colour of your skin, your age, your environment or your place in the womb or outside of the womb, cannot dictate an intrinsic value that by definition stands independently of external factors.
We therefore have a duty to stop categorising some human beings as sub-human. Once we have dehumanised one member of the human race then none of us are free from being dehumanised by our political system. It is not a question of choice, but of humanity. The question of decriminalisation is likewise not a question of choice, but of Humanity.
Abortion will be abolished, just as slavery was abolished – because the abortion Law and the decriminalisation of the killing of the unborn baby are wrong. All those MPs who supported slavery have been forgotten as scoundrels; only Wilberforce is remembered.
Will you go down in history as a member of parliament who stood up and fought for the most unpopular and most unprotected members of society? Will you be a NO. 5? Please vote against any move to decriminalise abortion and be a modern Wilberforce.
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” Luke 6: 31.
Yours Sincerely,
Lydia Keogh