Did you know that the Constitution DOES have something to say about abortion?

While you won’t find the actual term within the text, the 14th Amendment is very explicit about such matters. Check out Section One below:

“All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; 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.”

However, to really understand the 14th Amendment, we need to head back in time and think about its origin story. Why was it created? Quite simply, the 14th Amendment was a reaction to the Constitution not being upheld properly to its true meaning.

To elaborate further, the creation of the 14th Amendment was a reaction to the unfortunate practice of slavery in the United States.

Section One was authored by Ohio Representative John Bingham. He explained the need for such an amendment, writing: “A simple, strong, plain declaration that equal laws and equal and exact justice shall hereafter be secured within every State of the Union.”

The House Joint Resolution proposing the 14th Amendment to the Constitution was submitted to the states in 1866. Over the course of about two years, the states deliberated and ratified. On July 28, 1868, the 14th Amendment was ratified by the needed 28 of the 37 states, declared by the Secretary of State, and therefore became binding on the United States.

At this time, the 14th Amendment was able to grant citizenship to Black Americans who were formerly enslaved, as well as ensure their right to the due process of law and legal protection. Why? Because “all persons born or naturalized in the United States… are citizens of the United States” and “nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property.”

This was much-needed and amazing — but as we know, at that time, the full extent of the 14th Amendment still wasn’t being applied yet.

In fact, there were several other times the 14th Amendment was used to correct societal wrongs. Most notably, we can look at the fights for equal civil rights on both the racial and sexual basis.

Today, in our society, it seems both laughable and offensively ridiculous that at one time, certain civil liberties weren’t extended to some humans because of their skin color. However, these was very much an extended fight, from the eradication of slavery to total equality under the law. Key warriors in this battle include notable figures such as Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Douglass believed, “A government that cannot or does not protect the humblest Citizen in his right to life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness, should be reformed or overthrown without delay.”

Because of these men, no matter your skin color, you have the same rights in the United States today. Where once black Americans were legally chattel, we now have had a two-term black President. God-given rights were restored in this fight for all persons.

In addition, we also know that, for quite some time, women in the United States didn’t share the same legal rights as men.

The first-wave feminist movement sought to change that, with the goal of securing voting rights for women and opening up equal legal protections for them. The essential idea was that women are just as desiring of the right to vote and civilly interact in our society as men. (Let us distinguish this much-needed endeavor from the third-wave feminism we are living in the stink of today — ideology which is truly so anti-feminist that it is hurting women to the extent that none of our foremothers in the fight would recognize it.) First-wave feminism’s goal was to uplift women as equal participants in the civil processes.

The notable warriors in this fight include women such as Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Blackwell, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

Anthony aptly stated, “Men who fail to be just to their mothers cannot be expected to be just to each other. The whole evil comes from the failure to apply equal justice to all mankind.”

Because of these women, no matter your sex, you have the same rights in the United States today. Where once women didn’t even have the right to vote, we now have had a female Vice President of the United States. Rights were restored in this fight for all persons.

But are the protections of the 14th Amendment sufficient yet?

Not nearly. As other social reformers before us pointed out that this amendment meant equality of all people, so the pro-life movement does again today.

In the words of Pro-Life Generation CEO Kristan Hawkins: “From the day that Roe v. Wade’s corrupt legacy came to an end, the Pro-Life Generation has called for acknowledgment that the 14th Amendment protects all lives – in and out of the womb.”

With the legal roadblock of Roe v. Wade behind us, it’s time for the pro-life movement to demand that the 14th Amendment is once again read literally: “No state…shall deprive any person of life.”

But what does this mean practically? It means unapologetically working against abortion as a federal issue, as well as a state issue. The abortion lobby (and even abortion apologists on the right, unfortunately) like to maintain that “abortion isn’t a federal issue.” But taught by the 14th Amendment, that position is wrong for two reasons:

1. The 14th Amendment affirms legal protection for preborn children when it guarantees that “no state shall deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”
2. Additionally, it gives Congress the power to enforce such legal protections “by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.”

Just as prior to the Dobbs v. Jackson decision, every pro-lifer made it their goal to educate on and eradicate the horrors of Roe v. Wade, now our main national focus is on getting Congress to recognize and legislate that preborn children are included in the equality and protection of all as promised in the 14th Amendment.