One evening in late September John Perkins, a veteran of the civil-rights movement, attended a rally at a Baptist church in Jackson in support of what he called “a total justice issue”. But this aspect of justice had nothing to do with any of the issues ordinarily associated with the civil-rights movement. It was concerned with Amendment 26, a measure on Mississippi’s ballot this November that defines a person as being “every human being from the moment of fertilisation, cloning or the functional equivalent thereof”.
The reason for the measure is straightforward; its consequences less so. The Supreme Court, in its landmark Roe v Wade ruling in 1973, held that the right of a woman to terminate her pregnancy in the first trimester was guaranteed by her constitutional right to privacy. But Harry Blackmun, the liberal justice who wrote the court’s majority opinion, noted that Henry Wade, the defendant, and others “argue that the fetus is a ”˜person’ within the language and meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment”¦If this suggestion of personhood is established, [Jane Roe’s] case, of course, collapses, for the fetus’s right to life would be guaranteed specifically by the amendment.” In Blackmun’s view the constitution and judicial precedent failed to establish that personhood applied to the unborn. Mississippi is trying to fix that.
John Perkins is right that the right to life is the most basic civil right, and his willingness to support that cause in the political arena is inspiring. The most important level of government, however, is the self-government of the people, and on this level of government, the churches should be active. Christians should understand that elective abortions are wrong, no matter what the laws of the state say. We can obey God in our own lives, and help women whose pregnancies pose economic hardship. Such self-government can gradually change the political landscape. A nation-wide ministry, Care Net, is helping people find alternatives to abortion. That and similar ministries deserve our support.
I assure you, many Christians are wired into the max on this in Mississippi. It has been a battle to get this on the ballot and I think it may win by a big margin.