It is nearly universally agreed that the United States of America is a “great nation” with the world’s strongest economy, an expansive international presence, and being physically one of the largest countries in the world. The groundwork for this expansion, both in size and economically, was grounded in our concept of “manifest destiny” – the belief that as a nation, we were intended to span from ocean to ocean. For years, this expansion was seen as a glorious event as settlers spread out over the land, establishing new farms and industries. However, recent historical discussions have brought to light the plight of the individuals who paid the price for this land expansion: namely, the Native Americans, whose land was forcefully taken with laughable compensation.
At the time, the abuse of Native Americans was justified by the prevailing view that they did not possess the same rights as others because they were considered “subhuman” or unworthy of the same rights and dignity afforded to all Americans. Despite opposition from multiple civic and religious organizations that supported the rights of Native Americans, they were easily dismissed by newspapers, corporate entities, intelligentsia, university leaders, and local, state, and federal government officials. For example, in one of the grievances against King George in the Declaration of Independence, a future U.S. president referred to Native Americans as “merciless Indian savages.”
There were numerous other examples of entire groups of people being treated unjustly, from Jewish and Italian garment workers toiling in inhumane conditions in Manhattan, to the grossly underpaid Irish youth working as train brakemen (considered the most dangerous job in the world at that time, with thousands dying each year), to Eastern Europeans working endless hours for low pay in the coal mines of Pennsylvania, to Chinese workers assigned the most dangerous and grueling tasks in building the Transcontinental Railroad. And, of course, we are all aware of the grave injustice of the slavery system. All of these actions were undertaken in the name of building the U.S. economy, with the rights of a nation aspiring to greatness being considered more important than the rights of these marginalized members of society.
In all of these cases, the abuses started once the public was convinced that the targeted group was not fully human and therefore not worthy of full rights. How else, for example, could this country stand by and allow thousands of brakemen to die, even after Westinghouse had invented the highly effective air brake? After all, the lives of a so-called subhuman group were considered of lesser value compared to the costs needed to install these systems, which could potentially derail the profits made by the railroad industry.
Decades later, we look back at these injustices with shame, as we rightfully should, although many injustices continue to persist. This brings us to the topic of abortion. While no reasonable person would deny that an unexpected pregnancy can be very difficult for the woman involved and her family, are we not approaching this topic from the wrong perspective? While the focus has been on rights and economics, should not the first question we ask be, “What is inside a pregnant woman?” Is it a human being or not? If it is, then it deserves the same rights that all humans should be granted.
One can argue, based on embryology, that the fetus is indeed human. The second related question is whether the fetus is “fully human.” To help answer this, consider why a 24-week fetus that is wanted by its mother is considered fully human and worthy of all reasonable medical care, while an unwanted fetus is considered not to be. With future advances in neonatal care, including the real possibility of artificial wombs, this question will arise for much younger fetuses. What will be the answer then? Assigning any group of people a status of “less than human” is not grounded in biology (let’s follow the science) and is truly an arbitrary decision.
We have witnessed enough injustices where society has deemed someone or some group as “less than human.” We have seen the disastrous consequences of such categorizations time and time again. Let us pause and examine abortion through this lens, so that decades from now, our society does not look back with shame. Let us learn from history.
The author is an anonymous physician.
