Equal Protection Resolution Started a Much-Needed Conversation Within the NDGOP
With the help of a coordinated effort from national and state pro-life organizations, a resolution in support of equal protection under the law for the unborn failed to pass at the 2024 NDGOP State Convention. However, the resolution did succeed in creating an opportunity for a much-needed conversation within the Republican Party regarding one of its most important platform pillars.
The handout given to the delegates on the floor of the convention detailed the top “pro-life” reasons why pregnant women should retain the legal right to murder their unborn child. It’s worth serious reflection to consider this is the same stance held by the abortion industry, albeit for different reasons.
“Nearly all abortions are prohibited in North Dakota”. No, they’re not. A pregnant mother can murder her unborn child with impunity in all 50 states, including North Dakota. Women no longer need a clinic to obtain an abortion, they can simply swallow a few pills easily accessed online, and thanks to pro-life legislation, they have every right to do so. In every state with a so-called abortion ban, legislators have made it illegal for everyone except the pregnant mother to purposefully cause the death of an unborn child. Abortion will never come close to being prohibited while a specific class of citizens remain exempt from the legal consequences of murdering an unborn baby.
“The law only allows abortions for conditions of rape or incest during the first six weeks of gestation and to prevent the death or a serious health risk to the mother.” Again, pregnant women have the ability and the right to kill their unborn child via abortion pills at any stage and for any reason in the state of North Dakota. Beyond that, allowing the execution of an innocent life because of the circumstances surrounding his or her conception is a grave injustice. Humans who have been conceived through rape or incest, as well as humans in the first 6 weeks of development, have the same inherent worth as anyone else and deserve equal protection under the law. The pro-life establishment is content to allow the execution of a minority of innocent lives in their attempt to save the majority. This is not something to be proud of nor touted as a victory for life.
Finally, abortion is never necessary to save the life of the mother, and the pro-life establishment needs to stop pretending otherwise in order to score political talking points and pass their bills of unequal justice.
“The resolution assumes without evidence massive criminal use of mail-in abortion medications. North Dakota law prohibits self administered medication abortion unless the abortion falls within the narrow categories.”
Self-managed abortions, unlike medication abortions provided through telehealth, are not reported to state or federal agencies, so it is difficult to get a clear picture of how many women are killing their babies via abortion pills. However, we know that medication abortion is on the rise and accounts for the vast majority of abortions today. Aid Access, one of the largest providers of abortion pills, self-reported a 270% increase in average daily pill requests and that within one month they had shipped abortion pills to over 3,500 people living in states where abortion is banned. Do we know exactly how many women are ending their pregnancies with abortion pills in ND? No. Does it matter? Again, no. A better question might be this: Is there a certain number of babies dying from medication abortion that is acceptable to the pro-life establishment? We don’t need to acquire data on how many women are ordering abortion pills in North Dakota to know that they should not have the legal right to do so.
“The criminal code states the “prescribing any instrument or medicine or drug” is indeed illegal. Charges against any out of state physician who prescribes such a drug may be pursued.”
Yes, it is illegal for ND providers to prescribe abortion pills, but it is not illegal for women to access them online, and it is not illegal for women to ingest those same pills that directly cause the death of her unborn child.
There are currently 6 states that have implemented laws to shield abortion providers from prosecution for prescribing pills to women in states with abortion restrictions. Women are also able to acquire abortion pills from organizations that require no consultation or prescription, as well as from underground community networks run by volunteers. The only way to truly solve the problem of abortion pill access is a federal ban, but that does not mean that states can’t and shouldn’t codify equal justice under the law for the unborn.
“Women who seek abortions do so under extreme emotional conditions or coercion fed by a culture of lies. Will they seek much-needed help from pro-life centers if threatened with imprisonment?”
The vast majority of women who seek abortion do so willingly, and many without reservation or remorse. Yes, we must continue to do all we can to help pregnant mothers in difficult circumstances and those who have been harmed by abortion, but we cannot continue to ignore God’s commands to establish justice and end child sacrifice because we’re afraid of what might happen if we do. We cannot continue to ask God to bless our efforts to help women and save babies while failing to address the root of the problem which is either a rejection of God’s Word or a failure to understand it. Imputing victimhood onto mothers who kill their unborn babies is to acquit the guilty and condemn the innocent, which the Lord detests. It robs women of the legal boundary that would compassionately deter many from making a decision they will deeply regret. Most importantly, it robs pregnant and post-abortive mothers of the need to repent and receive the mercy and forgiveness found in Christ because it is not possible to be both the victim and the perpetrator of the same transgression.
Pro-life legislation feeds into our “culture of lies” because it conveys that the unborn are a distinct class of human beings that do not deserve equal protection under the law. We mustn’t forget that the law is a teacher. Some legislation teaches that it’s acceptable to murder unborn babies as long as you go through a bunch of hoops first and give the baby a proper burial afterwards. Some legislation teaches that it’s ok to execute an innocent life depending on the stage of development and/or how they were conceived. Some legislation teaches that dismembering a fetus is a valid medical procedure to save the life of a mother. Yes, the abortion industry causes confusion among our culture with their incessant and dishonest propaganda. However, it’s time that the pro-life establishment considers how their rhetoric and legislation have also contributed to the widespread untruths regarding abortion and the sanctity of life.
“Whatever a person’s view of IVF, the resolution could be construed as a call to immediately ban IVF.”
Equal protection under the law for the unborn would not ban IVF, but it could influence much-needed ethical parameters within the fertility industry. IVF involves the creation of multiple embryos at a time that may be discarded for any reason, frozen indefinitely, or used for scientific research. IVF also often involves eugenics. If we truly believe that life begins at conception and that all lives have inherent worth, then being pro-life cannot encompass creating babies through any means necessary and without regard for an embryo’s right to life. Pro-life Republicans must come to terms with their cognitive dissonance regarding IVF and the sanctity of life if they want to have intellectual and moral credibility on the issue of abortion.
“In 2022, over 75 national and state pro-life organizations signed an open letter to state lawmakers unequivocally opposing the criminalization of women. Additionally, 18 representatives from national pro-life organizations have expressed great concern about NDGOP Resolution #6.”
This is a clear example of why the pro-life establishment is one of the greatest impediments to ending abortion in our country because they vigorously oppose the only way it will ever happen: by establishing equal justice under the law for unborn human beings. They are fighting a battle they have no intention of winning, all while fundraising off promises to fight for the unborn’s “right to life”. The unborn will never have a right to life as long as the mother has a special right - carved out within pro-life legislation - to kill her unborn baby with impunity.
Let’s take a look at where we find ourselves after 50 years of pro-life establishment leadership and consider if their consensus of opinion has produced acceptable results. From Live Action:
Estimates indicate one million abortions in 2023, a number not seen for over a decade.
Current statistics show 2,548 abortions daily in the U.S. — 106 abortions per hour, 1.8 per minute, and one every 35 seconds.
Nearly 6 million preborn children have been killed by the abortion pill in the U.S. since its FDA approval in 2000 – roughly equivalent to the population of Denmark.
Abortions by pill now make up the majority of all abortions committed in the United States — 53% in 2020 alone. And with the proliferation of unregulated online virtual abortion businesses, chemical abortion numbers are likely to grow. This number does not represent abortion pills being shipped into the country illegally.
Leading Republicans are now advocating for “commonsense” abortion restrictions that allow for the execution of innocent lives within certain parameters. Donald Trump and Kari Lake publicly pressured Arizona’s legislature to overturn a near total abortion ban which they ultimately did. The law now allows abortions up to 15 weeks.
Public opinion on abortion has shifted so far to the left that the vast majority of Americans now believe abortion should be legal to some degree, particularly in the first trimester.
It is clear that the pro-life movement has not only failed to end abortion, it has failed to even reduce the number of preborn children being slaughtered on a daily basis within our country. In addition, throughout the abortion holocaust, pro-life efforts have failed to make a meaningful impact on the cultural mindset, particularly within the Republican party. “Building a culture of life” and “making abortion unthinkable” are empty phrases that the pro-life establishment likes to throw out as solutions to ending abortion, but they do little more than let us off the hook from doing the one thing that may make us uncomfortable, but would actually accomplish both of those goals: establishing equal protection under the law for the unborn.
The depravity within our culture that fuels the abortion genocide cannot be overcome with worldly pragmatism. It cannot be overcome with timidity and fear. And it certainly cannot be overcome by compromising on God’s Word. If we truly want to end abortion, it’s time to reject the failed methods of the pro-life establishment and embrace true justice and mercy found in the Biblical abolitionist movement.
-Amber Vibeto, Executive Director
