CPAC panel likens Roe v. Wade to 3/5 compromise

Speakers at conservative confab compare abortion to slavery, decry the left's "anti-child utopia"

Published March 15, 2013 5:57PM (EDT)

               (Reuters/Molly Riley)
(Reuters/Molly Riley)

At a Friday afternoon CPAC panel, called "The Pro-Life Fight," on the 40th anniversary since the Roe v. Wade decision,  speakers made comparisons between abortion and slavery, decried "the left's anti-child utopia," and argued that President Obama is the one waging a war on women.

Mercy Schlapp of Cove Strategies said that the combination of the pro-choice movement and contraception mandate are just part of the movement toward "the left's anti-child utopia."

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, said it was more nefarious than that. "There's a point where you become culpable in the killing of other people," she said. "It happened in slavery, when slaves were returned to their masters. When our hands are bloodied by this, it becomes a whole other thing."

Tim Goeglein, the vice president of Focus on the Family, agreed on the slavery comparison, arguing that Roe v. Wade is just like the 3/5 Compromise, which counted a slave as 3/5 of a white person. "I'm very happy to say that it took only 10 years for the Supreme Court to reverse its decision, and we've all been waiting 41 years," he said.

"It's really important to be on the right side of history on big things," he said.

Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Va., blamed it all on healthcare reform and the contraception mandate. "Obamacare fundamentally changes the rights of Americans. It deals with the religious liberties, religious freedoms," he said, and "says you have got to meet a certain criteria before you get that right."

"This nation is headed in the wrong direction and we're headed there at breakneck speed," said Forbes.

Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Mo., agreed that "this president remains completely out-of-touch and defies the majority of the American people."

"Since coming to life and to office, this administration has waged an all-out war on" the pro-life movement, and "trounced on our constitutional liberties" with Obamacare and the "abortion pill."

"Then he has the audacity to say that we are waging a war on women in this country. He is the one waging the real war on women," Wagner said.


By Jillian Rayfield

Jillian Rayfield is an Assistant News Editor for Salon, focusing on politics. Follow her on Twitter at @jillrayfield or email her at jrayfield@salon.com.

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Ann Wagner Anti-abortion Cpac Focus On The Family Randy Forbes Social Conservatives