Indictment Against Abortion

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Indictment against Abortion: A Biblical and Constitutional Basis to Reject the Death-Exalting Ritual of Abortion

Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022) was a monumental case that changed and preserved the lives of many Americans. Although the ruling in this case was an improvement from the decisions given in Roe v. Wade (1973) and Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992), the current abortion precedent that Dobbs set is still insufficient to protect the fundamental liberties the United States is based in part upon. The Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs rescinded abortion as a constitutional “right” and returned the prerogative of the legality of abortion to the states. In the majority opinion, Justice Samuel Alito wrote:

“We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled. The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision [...] Abortion presents a profound moral question. The Constitution does not prohibit the citizens of each State from regulating or prohibiting abortion. Roe and Casey arrogated that authority. We now overrule those decisions and return that authority to the people and their elected representatives.”

This Supreme Court ruling restricted the federal government from warranting abortions. However, I believe that a closer examination of The Declaration of Independence and of the Constitution would reveal that it would also be unconstitutional for states to warrant abortions. Justice Alito said that abortion “presents a profound moral question.” More importantly than being unconstitutional, I believe that abortion is a clear abomination that directly sheds innocent blood, specifically that of babies. Due to the sadistic, sinful nature of such murder, abortion violates the Sixth Commandment from the Moral Law in Exodus 20:13 - “Thou shalt not kill.”

The Declaration of Independence itself prohibits abortion. As the predecessor of the Constitution, The Declaration of Independence is an exceptionally consequential document that laid the foundation for American independence and governance. In The Declaration of Independence, the framers stated that there is a Law that transcends a nation’s laws: that would be God’s Laws. More specifically, they stated that the “Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God” conferred to all men “the separate and equal station” between each other. They then presented some of these rights and listed how the “history of the [then] present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations” of these rights. The framers of The Declaration of Independence famously declared some of these rights:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed”.

Years after establishing the United States’ independence, the Constitution was drafted and ratified. In this way, The Declaration of Independence may be seen as a kind of foundational document of the Constitution: The Declaration of Independence laid out what an ideal government may look like and the rightful limitations of such a government, and the Constitution further clarified this kind of government that America’s founding fathers had in mind. Therefore, The Declaration of Independence may have influenced the drafting of the Constitution. It may therefore prove to be of inestimable value for the courts to interpret the Constitution in light of The Declaration of Independence.

Interpreting the Constitution in the frame of The Declaration of Independence would demonstrate that all abortion, at the federal and the state levels, is, even more than just being unconstitutional, sinful. In Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment, the Constitution says that no state shall “deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” The right to life is one of the enumerated rights in this section of the Constitution. This may be directly relevant to the part in The Declaration of Independence that reads that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” This passage particularly says that all men are “created” equal. This is particularly important because it demonstrates that life (that is, the validity of mankind) begins at the time of creation (i.e. conception), and not at a certain age. Therefore, the enumerated, God-given rights of “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” would extend to all of mankind, regardless of age, color, gender, national origin, etc. When interpreted in this framework, the words in the Fourteenth Amendment that say “nor shall any State 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” (italics added) would extend the fundamental right to life and of the equal protection of the laws to pre-born babies. Because of the innate nature of the unborn in that they wouldn’t be able to commit such outward atrocities that men and women could (e.g. they can’t shoplift), no justifiable kind of due process could appropriately deprive this group of individuals of their fundamental right to life. This would make all abortion, both at the federal level (as per the Fifth Amendment) and at the state level (as per the Fourteenth Amendment), unconstitutional.

The Thirteenth Amendment, when interpreted in the framework of The Declaration of Independence, would also make abortion unconstitutional. The Thirteenth Amendment states that neither “slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” Effectively, this amendment reinforces the principle that it would be unconstitutional for a person to be a kind of chattel of another person. As aforementioned, The Declaration of Independence establishes that, in the United States, any person, whether born or unborn, has “certain unalienable Rights” of which life is one of them. This principle is in direct contradiction to one of the fundamental arguments in favour of abortion that pontificates “my body, my choice”. This argument in favour of abortion posits that a pre-born person does not have the same fundamental right to life that his or her mother would have. In the framework of abortion, a mother may be a kind of slavemaster of her baby, and this is unconstitutional as per Section 1 of the Thirteenth Amendment. Since there would be no moral nor logical grounds to duly convict a pre-born baby, abortion is not only unconstitutional, but more importantly, it is sinful.

Having established the constitutionality of both federal and state warrants to abortion, I believe that abortion is fundamentally a moral evil. In some abortions, the victim might be torn apart limb-by-limb. In other abortions, a corrosive, deadly fluid would consume the body of its victim. Certainly from a scientific perspective, life would begin at conception. Biblically, it is egregiously wrong to shed innocent blood. Indeed, Psalm 106:37-40 clearly applies to abortion:

“³⁷ Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils,

³⁸ And shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan: and the land was polluted with blood.

³⁹ Thus were they defiled with their own works, and went a whoring with their own inventions.

⁴⁰ Therefore was the wrath of the LORD kindled against his people, insomuch that he abhorred his own inheritance.”

Surely, abortion is inherently a moral evil. Upon examination, abortion is revealed as child sacrifice upon the altars of sin, and that of adultery, fornication, uncleanness, and lasciviousness. It is antithetical to true altruism, and it is preposterously bad. Abortion undermines the very principles The Declaration of Independence is based upon: namely that all men are created equally by their Creator and by Him are bestowed with certain unalienable rights which no mortal government could lightly retract. Furthermore, the founders stated that “when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.” However, when these people are without voice, when these people are the most vulnerable of our human race, when these people are entirely dependent upon another human, they are therefore left without the kind of recourse our founding fathers had. It is the privilege and duty of the American justice system to execute righteous judgment in defending an infant’s right to life. If our justice system is not regenerated, the “political bands” of the United States may be severed, and the United States may be left as a desolate nation. Due in part to the foolish rulings in Roe v. Wade (1973) and in Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992), much innocent blood has been shed on and in the United States. Therefore, the wrath of God has been kindled due to these atrocities. There is, however, still hope, yet it can only be found in the Gospel. 2 Chronicles 7:14 lays out this solution.

“¹⁴ If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

In light of this desperate state we have found ourselves in, I would recommend both Congress and the courts to dismantle all federal and state laws that condone abortion with all deliberate speed, namely immediately. Ultimately, though, the only hope for America, the only recourse, the only saving grace can only be found in the Gospel alone. May America repent and turn to Jesus Christ, trusting in His substitutionary life, death, and resurrection for the atonement of our sins.

“⁵ Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the LORD thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for He hath glorified thee.

⁶ Seek ye the LORD while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near:

⁷ Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.

⁸ For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the LORD.

⁹ For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.”

Works Cited:

Thomas Jefferson, et al, July 4, Copy of Declaration of Independence. -07-04, 1776.

U.S. Constitution, art. XIII, § 1

U.S. Constitution, art. XIV, § 1

U.S. Constitution, art. XIV, § 2

Alito, Samuel. “Majority Opinion.” Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, www.constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/supreme-court-case-library/dobbs-v-jackson-womens-health-organization.

King James Bible. King James Bible Online, https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/2-Chronicles-Chapter-7/. Accessed 26 April 2025.

King James Bible. King James Bible Online, https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Exodus-20-13/. Accessed 1 May 2025.

King James Bible. King James Bible Online, https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Psalms-Chapter-106/. Accessed 1 May 2025.

King James Bible. King James Bible Online, https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/2-Chronicles-7-14/. Accessed 1 May 2025.

Hovind, Kent. “Creation Seminar 4 Lies in the Textbooks Dr Kent Hovind (With Subtitles).” Published on June 6, 2014. YouTube video, 1:10:17 to 1:31:46. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oQehjVbGOA.

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