Keyes: Allowing states to make abortion decision not an option

Bill Robinson

Allowing states to decide the legality of abortion is not an option for the pro-life movement, Dr. Alan Keyes told a crowd of more than 100 who attended a Madison County Right to Life rally Thursday evening at Church on the Rock.

“No state should have the right to take the life of a human being in its mother’s womb,” he said.

Keyes, a four-time candidate for president and former U.S. ambassador, was the keynote speaker for the organization’s “The Candidates and the Constitution” rally.

In addition to Keyes, Andy Barr and Matt Lockett, who are seeking to represent the Kentucky’s Sixth District in the U.S. House of Representatives, and Bill Johnson, who is running for the U.S. Senate from Kentucky, spoke. David Adams, campaign manager for Rand Paul, another candidate for U.S. Senate, also spoke.

“America will never be conquered by a foreign power,” Keyes said, but “neglect of our constitution” would assure its collapse.

National downfall will be the inevitable outcome of the “outrageous robbery of our rights and destruction of our constitution” by the federal government, Keyes said.

The constitution should not be subject to an evolving interpretation to suit contemporary desires, he said. Its meaning should be derived from the Declaration of Independence.

Many of the same “founding fathers” played a leading role in writing and approving both documents, and their intentions can be discerned by comparing the two, Keyes said.

“All men are created equal,” Keyes said, quoting the declaration. “They are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights. Among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

Government should be limited by respect for individual rights, he said, rights that are God-given. And, the most fundamental of those rights is the right to life, including the life of the unborn, he said.

Members of the right-to-life movement must be “deeply committed to restoring the moral basis of America,” Keyes said. “We battle not only for the life of the innocent children and soul of the mother, but for the very life of our nation.”

Keyes said he is looking around the country for candidates with consistent pro-life positions. Hopkinsville businessman Bill Johnson, who is seeking the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, is the only candidate in the race who meets that standard, he said.

Debbie Secchio, president of Madison County Right to Life, said the organization does not endorse candidates, but had invited candidates to come and share their views of the constitution and sanctity-of-life issues.

Adams, Barr, Johnson and Lockett all echoed Keyes views on those issues.

Adams said, “Politically, the battle of life is being lost,” with the White House and both houses of Congress in control of pro-choice forces.

He called on his listeners to “pray that God will soften the hearts of our enemies.”

“Life is sacred,” Adams said, “and it begins at conception.”

Barr, a part-time lecturer at the University of Kentucky, said he would fight to maintain the Congressional ban on partial-birth that was narrowly upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court and would vote against any version of health care reform that funded abortion or end-of-life counseling.

Johnson said he frequently is told that he cannot win election to the senate because he has no money.

“It’s time to take money out of politics,” he said. “I wouldn’t take any amount of money for the endorsement of Alan Keyes.”

Lockett said, “Politicians in Washington think they rule over the people, but next year, the people will let them know what we think.”

Government does not grant rights to the people, he said. It exists to protect people’s rights.

Supreme court opinions are just that, opinions, Lockett said.

“The opinion in Roe vs. Wade that an unborn child is not a person is the wrong opinion,” he said.



Bill Robinson can be reached at brobinson@richmondregister.com or at 624-6622.

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