Roger Wicker: Roe v. Wade Produced 'Decades-Long Holocaust'

Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), a staunch opponent of abortion rights, drew an eyebrow-raising comparison on the issue invoking the Holocaust at the annual "March for Life" in Washington, D.C. on Monday.

"We believe Roe v. Wade has led to a three-and-a-half decades-long holocaust in the United States of America, and it amounts to a stain on our national conscience, and it's time for it to end," said the conservative senator at the event, ABC News reports.

Wicker said that his presence at the rally was rooted in his conviction that the landmark Supreme Court ruling "is bad law."

According to The Hill, the Republican senator signaled his intention to introduce legislation this week that defines life as beginning at conception.

The bill currently has five co-sponsors -- Republican Sens. Richard Burr (N.C.), Mike Enzi (Wyo.), Jerry Moran (Kan.), Rand Paul (Ky.) and Roy Blunt (Mo.) -- with more expected to join after the bill is formally introduced. Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) introduced companion legislation in the House last week.

The strict measure would reportedly provide legal protection for fetuses. Wicker suggested that passage would come as a significant step in the larger pro-life fight to overturn Roe v. Wade, according to Mississippi-based station WLOX.

The AP reports on the "March for Life":

More than three dozen lawmakers addressed the crowd during a rally to start the annual "March for Life." The lawmakers, buoyed by Republican gains in the House in November, called for the landmark court decision to be overturned and said they would work to restrict tax dollars for abortion.

"We stand with you for life," Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, the second-ranking House Republican, told the marchers. "Thanks to your support last November, there's a new majority in town."

Cantor said the new group of Republicans in Congress is the "biggest and the most pro-life freshman class in memory."

Comments

[johmich5]

01:51 AM on 02/18/2011

Human life begins at conception and abortion kills that human life, that is the scientific fact. Roe removed "personhood" from full term viable pre-natal children in order to justify and legalize abortion. That is exactly the same argument that kept slaves in chains. They were only 3/5ths human after all. Roe was found on ancient pre-natal data that is no longer valid. They believed that the pre-natal child was merely "Potentiality for human life." Clearly that is not the case. Even a 5th grader knows “that there’s a baby is in mommies tummy” I guess those Supreme Court Judges were not smarter than a 5th grader after all.

http://www.princeton.edu/~prolife/articles/embryoquotes2.html
http://www.prolifephysicians.org/lifebegins.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beginning_of_human_life#Biological_markers

[onionboy]

02:03 PM on 02/18/2011

"Human life begins at conception"

Religious position, not scientific.

None of your links say otherwise, except for the pro-life physicians, which is clearly a politically-biased website (which is fine, but doesn't constitute scientific proof or consensus). In fact, it doesn't even provide a scientific basis for why they would come to that conclusion.

Simple fact, there's no scientific consensus on what "being alive" means for a cell or most organisms.

[johmich5]

06:02 PM on 02/19/2011

Your science of relativity maybe, but if you had read my reference you would have seen clearly there is a consensus.

•The Harper Collins Illustrated Medical Dictionary
Dox, Ida G. et al. New York: Harper Perennial, 1993, p. 146]
"Embryo: An organism in the earliest stage of development; in a man, from the time of conception to the end of the second month in the uterus."

Langman's Medical Embryology
Sadler, T.W. 7th edition. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins 1995, p. 3
"The development of a human begins with fertilization, a process by which the spermatozoon from the male and the oocyte from the female unite to give rise to a new organism, the zygote."

Van Nostrand's Scientific Encyclopedia
Considine, Douglas (ed.). 5th edition. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, 1976, p. 943
"Embryo: The developing individual between the union of the germ cells and the completion of the organs which characterize its body when it becomes a separate organism.... At the moment the sperm cell of the human male meets the ovum of the female and the union results in a fertilized ovum (zygote), a new life has begun.... The term embryo covers the several stages of early development from conception to the ninth or tenth week of life."
http://abortionabout.com/when-does-life-begin.html

[smoovejef]

09:39 PM on 01/26/2011

I am a man, and I will speak as a man: until a man can push a 7 lb. kid out of his butt, it isn't his call. If the majority of women consider abortion to be about a woman's right to choose, fine; if the believe it to be a matter of fetal murder, it's their choice.
I can see men having opinions, input and debate; after all, we are also husbands & fathers. But when it comes to abortion and making a decision that would impact the current laws, that decision should be made by women. If they want men's views on the subject, they'll ask us.

[DivergentMary]

09:02 AM on 01/27/2011

Thank you for your rational perspective.

[MissAstrid]

09:31 AM on 01/27/2011

[Coyote1177]

04:44 PM on 01/26/2011

Reality Check--The fact is we cannot and do not care for the children that are here--we do not have the means(or will not allow the means we do have to be committed to child care) nor do we have the collective will or the social structure to care for many, many children in America alone---countries like India are crippled by poverty due to over population. If this issue is not addressed adding more babies to the que will only speed our demise--nice ideas but cold facts are needed.

[WOODSTOCKER51]

07:46 AM on 01/26/2011

SPERM ARE ALIVE.........SO......IS WICKER "GUILTY OF KILLING THEM TOO?"...

.,,,BET HE IS!!....ROFLMAO

[PoliticsHater]

01:57 PM on 01/26/2011

Sperm aren't alive. Turn your caps lock off. Cretin.

[MissAstrid]

09:32 AM on 01/27/2011

Sperm are alive. How else do they swim?

[Geoulio Fransesco]

01:38 AM on 01/26/2011

News alert, Mr Wicker. Abortions have been going on for years. Legal abortions have just made it safer for the female. Did you ever think that maybe if you didn't insist on abstinence only education, there wouldn't be so many abortions?

[Aerows]

10:25 PM on 01/25/2011

Why oh why do politicians always trot out these kinds of issues that no one is every going to agree upon.  If he would spend his energy on helping to make this a better country, including holding people accountable and worrying about jobs, he would be doing something worthwhile.

No, instead, he wants to babble about abortion and social issues instead of doing what he was sent to Washington to do.  I seriously doubt anyone in Mississippi sent Wicker to Washington to worry about women getting abortions - I would imagine that most Mississippi residents are far more concerned about their economic futures!

[Jerry Vasquez]

10:11 PM on 01/25/2011

Just when you thought that the crazy train could not board one more passenger. Here comes
one more guy screaming to get on board.

[fastronaut]

10:06 PM on 01/25/2011

Some observations.

1. For a comparison to be meaningful, you should be able to reverse its principle terms and produce a sensible statement. Referring to the Holocaust as “a six million person abortion” is not that statement.
2. If a fetus is granted rights by the federal government, a number of questions should follow. How actionable is the neglect of that fetus? Do women report their pregnancy to the State? Why do medical rights end at birth?
3. How does extending federal governance over a citizen *before birth* cohere with a philosophy of restricting governmental intrusion?

[novabird]

10:40 PM on 01/25/2011

#1- correct
#2- If #2 was law, then universal health care must logically follow
#3- right wing practice makes a convenient exception when the governmental intrusion involves a woman's body.

[PoliticsHater]

02:30 PM on 01/26/2011

I don't agree with #2. If you drive recklessly, you get a ticket,. The government doesn't pay for your ticket. I personally believe that people need to file a permit or request to have a baby. Sex education and contraception would be an integral part of this too eliminate unwanted pregnancies.

[PoliticsHater]

02:03 PM on 01/26/2011

I like your observations and I'll try to answer them.

1. Change both to murder instead of a Holocaust.
2. Neglect of the fetus should definitely be actionable. A pregnant woman has the responsibility
for caring for the fetus. It's her body, then she should take care of it.
3.This is a tougher question. The "pre-born" have limited rights just as minor citizens have limited rights. In this case they's tend to have fewer rights yet. Human rights would be something they'd have. Imo of course.

[fastronaut]

11:50 AM on 01/28/2011

1. A comparison with the Holocaust was *the* key part of the Senator’s statement. By changing “Holocaust” to “murder” we dilute his meaning completely, and void the statement he intended to make. “Murder” is so abstract a term it could refer to any random death by gun, knife, etc, which was not the point. He’s referring to the purposeful, highly organized, deliberately genocidal, mass production of human death. The problem of making any comparison to the Holocaust is that there is *nothing* like the Holocaust, an event resisting representation itself.
2. This opens up a horizon of governmental activity out of keeping with stated conservative philosophy.
3. Please see number 2.

[suzeejc]

09:51 PM on 01/25/2011

How dare you compare anything to the holocaust.

[Craig 212]

09:43 PM on 01/25/2011

If that's the case, how many millions of deaths have Conservatives contributed to this so-called holocaust by preaching abstinence rather than promoting safe sex education?

[PoliticsHater]

02:03 PM on 01/26/2011

I don't know, is it quantifiable?

[WOODSTOCKER51]

09:46 AM on 01/27/2011

OR SENDING THOUSANDS TO THEIR DEATHS LOOKING FOR THE "WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION".......THAT PIPE DREAM OF DICKEM CHENEY AND HALIBURTON!

[ButchManowski]

09:36 PM on 01/25/2011

This guy is very concerned about making sure babies are born.

He doesn't seem concerned with making sure they survive when they need food, shelter, or medical care. Or education if they live long enough.

That's sad.

[WOODSTOCKER51]

07:42 AM on 01/26/2011

THE MORE BABIES ...THE LONGER THE WEALTHY WAR MACHINE CAN FIGHT THEIR "WINDMILLS"..AND GET RICHER!

[PoliticsHater]

02:04 PM on 01/26/2011

Enough with the caps lock. Doesn't conform to HP posting rules.

[segdae22]

09:22 PM on 01/25/2011

If we are going to take away women's reproductive rights, then can we start dictating who's even allowed to reproduce? (please note i'm being very tongue in cheek)

[WOODSTOCKER51]

07:43 AM on 01/26/2011

HE DOESNT THINK WOMAN HAVE ANY RIGHTS...TAKE AWAY THAT RIGHT OF THEIR OWN BODIES......AND YOU MAY AS WELL.MAKE THEM TOTAL SECOND CLASS CITIZENS...

[fwwest]

08:55 PM on 01/25/2011

Before abortion became legal they were performed illegaly and will be again if Row vs Wade is repealed. Women have been having abortions for centuries and will continue to do so just like people take drugs, gamble and deal in prostitution.

[hacp4041]

09:23 PM on 01/25/2011

so we should repeal all laws because some fraction of people break them?

[fastronaut]

10:07 PM on 01/25/2011

That hardly follows.

[fwwest]

08:50 PM on 01/25/2011

Why lately everytime someone doesn't like or agree with something they compare it to things that happened during WWI? NOTHING compares to the horrors that happened then! They are trivalizing the worst time in history.

[hacp4041]

09:06 PM on 01/25/2011

the Holocaust was during world war 2.

more to the point i don't know why that is always the comparison.

Chairman Mao was much better at killing people than Hitler anyway.

[PoliticsHater]

02:07 PM on 01/26/2011

Stalin was pretty good too. I don't think either rounded up a specific ethnic group for extermination.

[vgirl1]

08:47 PM on 01/25/2011

It is interesting that these same people are not equally concerned about nor interested in intervening in the genocides going on all over the world against people of color.

Genocide is a word coined by Raphael Lemkin to describe what Hitler's Germany was doing in Europe in the 1930s, which British Prime Minister Winston Churchill determined was a "crime without a name." Lemkin, a Polish Jew, tried to warn the rest of the world of Hitler's planned Holocaust and explained that it was "a crime that went beyond murder to the annihilation of a people."

The Genocide Convention provides a definition of the term "genocide." Genocide is "committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group" and is defined as the killing of members of a specific group, causing serious bodily or mental harm, deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life that are calculated to bring about its physical destruction, imposing measures intended to prevent births, and forcibly transferring children of the targeted group to others.

When one considers this definition, the right to choose really does not meet the definition of the holocaust or genocide.




to holocaust and grew out of the period in history.