Rush Limbaugh: Rush Answers Abortion Question

RushLimbaugh.com ^ | 7/8/05 | Rush Limbaugh

[wagglebee]

I've saved this and the response to it for today, Open Line Friday, to share with you. This woman is a subscriber at RushLimbaugh.com. She said, "Rush..." Her name is Anita. "Rush, I'm a die-hard fan. Though I was raised to support a woman's right to choose, since becoming a mother and listening to you over these many years, I've come to strongly believe that abortion is wrong. But because I'm conservative and believe in property rights, I can't reconcile the government's involvement in the ultimate property right to your own body. Can you help me?"

So I thought about this, and I wrote her back. I said: Dear Anita, perhaps I can. Our Declaration of Independence states that as free human beings, we are entitled to LIFE," and I put that in all caps, "liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The Declaration also says that these rights are "inalienable" and "granted by our Creator," God. If our government does not stand for and protect these basic rights, which are the essence of our creation and humanity, then it will not protect any others. In our history, we've had human beings, members of the Supreme Court, give us the disastrous Dred Scott decision, which established that we as human beings could consider certain of our fellow human beings as our property.

Dred Scott permitted whites in this country to own black slaves and eventually this decision was struck down. So, Anita, your child is not your personal property. Your body may be, but your child isn't. Your child is a distinct and individual human being that you helped to create and produce -- and no one owns that child's rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. So she wrote back and she thanked me, said she "hadn't looked at it that way;" she "appreciated that perspective." So I wanted to share that with you. One of the reasons why is because here we've had these Supreme Court decisions on property rights, private property rights, and you can see how some people interpret all of these, and extrapolate them to other issues in what may be the beginning of their education process. So I thought it was a great question that she asked and I was happy to be able to answer it for her.

[Artist]

BRAVO bump for Rush.

[Dustbunny]

Rush nailing it with clarity.

[Texas Eagle]

The typical answer to the question is, "To do what she wants with her body". To which I reply, "But there are plenty of laws already on the books which deny women the right to do what she wants with her body. For instance, she can't use it for prostitution or to sell her organs."

That usually stops them in their tracks.

[Free Baptist]

But wait! Rush said that our rights are inalienable because they are granted by our Creator! God! Since there is so little respect for the Creator (to the framers of the Declaration of Independence that would have been the God of the Bible, Jehovah and His Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit - the Triune God) or for those who seek to obey His Words (the Bible), why, to you, would Rush's answer the "perfect" answer? The God who granted our rights as inalienable is also the God who will ultimately judged how we have used and will use those rights. The God who granted those rights has never become disinterested in how men choose to obey or disobey Him...He will judge. He will judge individual conservatives who believe that the Free Market System is the end in itself but who believe that they can ignore God's Holy standards with impunity, and He will judge the American nation as a whole for their rebellion against Him and for trying to make believe that this nation itself was founded independent of His blessings and Providence.

[lame_internet_name]

Abortion is not about the mother's body, it's about the baby's body.

[rawcatslyentist]

Hey compared to murdering an innocent baby, everything else is just a simple matter of downhill degrees.
Perjury... no big deal compared to murdering a baby.
Theft... no big deal compared to murdering a baby.
Adultery....no big deal compared to murdering a baby.
Beasiality/homosexuality...no big deal compared to murdering a baby.

See what I mean Vern!

[don-o]

I'm glad my kids didn't hear this. When they are disobedient I tell them that they've all been bought and paid for, I own them and they must do as I say.

You need to stop saying that.

[Free Baptist]

May I encourage you to cite an Authority for the truth that "Every human being is a combination of Body and soul?" Rush mentioned the Author of the 1,100+ chapter document that has always served well as the Final Authority for all such issues.

[paulat]

And the answer is, the baby didn't "invade" you. You in effect invited the baby to come, by allowing somebody to deposit 100 million live sperm into your genital tract.

What about the women who are raped, and the children victims of incest?

[TomasUSMC]

Which is why we need a 110 percent ProLife Supreme Court Justice.

[Free Baptist]

We also teach our children that the have been bought and paid for. We are not our own, we are bought with a price which is the precious redeeming and atoning Blood of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 6:20). Our children don't belong to us, they belong to the God who grants inalienable rights. He purchased them at Calvary's Cross. We are blessed with the stewardship of our children under responsibility to God for how we raise and train them. That's why that Document, that Final Authority, the bible is so important in every issue of life.

[truthpls]

You know; I'm really beginning to think of Rush as our modern day Benjamin Franklin--at least as far as his common sense outlook, and expressing it with humor, in the language we all understand. Maybe we should send him to France.

[MarkL]

But the problem starts with the idea that your body is your property. That's nonsense too. Your body is you. Every human being is a combination of body and soul. If you are a materialist and don't believe in souls, then all the more reason to say that your body is you.

But then that begs the question, "if your body is 'you,' then what 'rights' does the government have over your body, or over 'you?'" For instance, does the government have the right to keep you from hurting yourself? To what extent? Should the government outlaw things like Ultimate Fighting or boxing? What about terribly physical sports like football (did you ever see Jim Otto after retiring from the Oakland Raiders try to walk?). What about outlawing motorcycles, or swimming pools?

How much authority should the government have over your body?

Mark

Please note, I'm in no way disagreeing with Rush's point here.

[Free Baptist]

Let's work to eventually have 9 of them.

[edweena]

paulat asks: "What about the women who are raped, and the children victims of incest?"

That's like when someone by-passes your security, distracts the dog with a chunk of raw meat, kicks down the door, and deposits a child who will die if you evict him/her before nine months are up. Then it sucks to be you, but women just have to put up with it, according to Rush's interpretation of the Constitution.

[MarkL]

"But there are plenty of laws already on the books which deny women the right to do what she wants with her body. For instance, she can't use it for prostitution or to sell her organs."

I'm in agreement with Walter Williams on this one, the ability to sell one's own organs.

Mark

[longtermmemmory]

actually under prior law, children are chattle. In days of old, selling to the gypsies was an option.

[Carry_Okie]

Inalienable or unalienable?

Both are acceptable, but it's unalienable in the Declaration.

[Trillian]

Awesome, thank you for posting :)

[Tennessean4Bush]

Amen to that, Rush!