The unprecedented, bombshell, SCOTUS leak about Roe v. Wade has unleashed the intended firestorm. Pro-abortion groups are protesting viciously not only before the building of the U.S. Supreme Court, but also in front of the houses of the justices who believe that the U.S. Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and Roe and Casey must be overruled. The pro-abortion argument is that overruling this case marks a horrendous backlash against women’s rights.
Interestingly enough, the Chinese government-run media echoed this pro-abortion narrative. Of course, the Communist Chinese propaganda has nothing to do with defending women’s rights, but instead aims to destroy America and distract the world from its own crimes. In China, forced abortion lasted more than three decades. Under the One-Child Policy, Chinese women had no choice or right to make decisions about their bodies or their babies.
Forced Abortion in China
I lived in China for 40 years and experienced forced abortion. For the Chinese government, forced abortion is a “solution” to the widespread poverty it caused. In 1949, the Communist Party took over China, and the biggest hope for the Chinese people was to get out of poverty. However, between the spring of 1959 and the end of 1961, more than 30 million Chinese starved to death and about the same number of births were lost or postponed. Research shows that the famine had overwhelmingly ideological causes, rating alongside the two world wars as a prime example of public manmade death.
In my childhood, my father and mother, like millions of parents, always scolded us when we left even one grain rice or little breadcrumbs on the table or floor. That was in the 1970s and 1980s. As a dictator, the Chinese Communist Party has no way to blame any other party for its policy failure (like Democrats blaming Republicans or vice versa in the U.S.). To escape from its culpability, the Communist leaders created a narrative, that is, the main cause of poverty in China was overpopulation.
In the eyes of the Chinese Communist Party, an unborn baby is not a life. Abortion is just as simple as people getting their tonsils out. Today, the Communist regime uses abortion as a weapon against one race. To curb the Muslim population in China, the government forces Uyghur women to abort and sterilize. Abortion has become a genocide tool for the Chinese government.
A Democratic Process in the U.S.
By contrast, abortion cannot be forced In the United States. While the pro-abortion groups are trying all means to influence the judicial decision on abortion, they must follow the law. While leaking the Supreme Court document and besieging Justices’ residences to protest are disgusting, illegal tactics, the democratic process is much superior to the totalitarian system in China. In fact, the beauty of the U.S. political system is that it allows people who hold opposite views about abortion or many other issues to live together peacefully.
A main argument between pro-life and pro-abortion people is whether a woman has the right to take the life of an unborn baby. Some state laws permit abortion, while others don’t. However, pro-abortion groups want the Supreme Court to proclaim abortion as one of the human rights protected by the Constitution (e.g., Rights to Religion, Speech, Press, Assembly, Petition; Right to Bear Arms). The reality is that abortion is not one of the Constitutional rights, and its legality should not rest with the courts but with each state’s legislature
Yet, there is a path for abortion to become a Constitutional right. Article V of the Constitution provides two ways to propose amendments to the document. Amendments may be proposed either by the Congress, through a joint resolution passed by a two-thirds vote, or by a convention called by Congress in response to applications from two-thirds of the state legislatures.
As we can see, any change about the Constitution will be comprehensive and complicated. However, this is an effective way to prevent a government from becoming a tyranny. In China, President Xi easily manipulated the People’s Congress, ended the term limits required by the Constitution, and became a de facto emperor. Because we do not have a democratic process for making laws in China, abortion and the current zero-COVID lockdowns are and have been enforced by police and military. Anyone who disagree with the Chinese government can be put in jail.
Conclusions
While America is not perfect, the whole governing system, from legislative, executive, to judicial, is designed to care for their citizens as well as care about human rights. “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” are every human being’s unalienable rights. A government’s job is to protect, not to end, these rights. While this governance principle fundamentally rules out forced abortion in the U.S., it is more imperative, more than ever, to defend the three governing branches and maintain their independence through check and balance mechanisms.