Mixed Up World: Abortion, Yes; School Choice, No

Recently, on January 22 to be exact, over 300,000 pro-lifers marched in Washington to somberly mark the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, source of the legalized abortion of over 40 million unborn human beings since 1973, equal to the entirety of all deaths—worldwide—in all of World War II, and about 40 times higher than the deaths of all Americans in all wars since the founding of the republic.

If you didn’t hear about the March…. Well, then you shouldn’t be relying on CNN and the major networks and New York Times for your news. You’re getting a very selective view of reality. Hey, you reap what you sow.

Related to that, something happened last summer that most Americans have no clue about. It’s worth recalling here, especially given the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, and what that decision has ultimately wrought.

In July 2009, the Obama administration and Democratic Congress rejected funding for school vouchers for poor children in Washington, DC, but supported funding for abortions for the mothers of those children. Specifically, the overwhelmingly Democratic House of Representatives narrowly passed—by a vote of 219-208—a bill permitting the D.C. government to use locally raised tax revenues to provide abortions, reversing a long-standing prohibition by Congress.

The contrast is breathtaking, yes. But it’s true. It’s another jolt to traditionally minded voters—especially pro-life Democrats and independents—who voted for "change" on November 4, 2008, and are now absorbing the change they authorized. In this case, the change stands in stark contrast to previous administrations and Congresses that prohibited federal funds to finance abortions in the District of Columbia.

And so, the change in favor of abortion funding came via a $768 million D.C. Financial Services Appropriations bill that—here’s the kicker—also included termination of school vouchers for poor children in Washington, D.C., forcing those children out of private schools and back into public schools they fled.

Most Americans didn’t notice any of this, given that the mainstream media that serves as educator-in-chief didn’t dare cover the story.

Particularly disturbed by the action was Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, who was fit to be tied: "Here’s what it comes down to," summed up Donohue. Poor pregnant women living in Washington, D.C. "will be told that if they decide to abort their baby, the government will pay for it. But if they persist in bringing their baby to term, the government will not help them to avoid the same lousy public schools that Barack and Michelle shunned for Sasha and Malia."

Donohue denounced the action as "cruel."

Yep, no doubt, it’s an outrage. Of course, it’s also predictable. By and large, liberals oppose school vouchers but support legalized abortion. In that sense, this is nothing new.

What is new, however, is this sudden push by today’s "progressives" for publicly funded abortion. This is the culmination of a progressive death march begun a century ago by Planned Parenthood founder and racial eugenicist Margaret Sanger, who preached the extraction of "human weeds" from the gene pool, in order to advance—in her words—"race improvement." Today’s progressive heirs have taken Sanger’s torch and lit up the barn.

And thus, we now have—in no less than the nation’s capital—a poster-child for that grim progressive worldview. It’s a child who doesn’t get aid to go to a private school—even as his mother pays school taxes—but whose mother gets aid, i.e., your money, to abort the child’s sibling.

We’re not only losing our conscience as a nation; we’re losing our mind. But, hey, you voted for it.

Dr. Paul Kengor is Executive Director of the Center for Vision & Values at Grove City College in Grove City, Pennsylvania and a commentator on American Radio Journal.