Lautenberg’s shocking comment

New Jersey senator Frank Lautenberg shocked the pro-life community with his comment that “These people don’t deserve the freedoms in the Constitution… but we’ll give it to them anyway.” In context, it’s abundantly clear that “these people” are pro-life advocates. Days later, he still has not responded to demands for an apology.

So, what would our lives look like if we got what Lautenberg thinks we deserve? The freedoms enumerated in the Constitution include…
Freedom of speech. As we have seen time and time again, abortion advocacy groups love to censor pro-lifers. That effort would become far more dangerous if they had the power of the government behind them.
The right to vote. Disenfranchising pro-lifers would be an easy way to ensure that pro-abortion candidates lead the country.
Equal protection of the laws. Without equal protection, pro-lifers would be second-class citizens.
The right to life. The Fourteenth Amendment guarantees that the government cannot deprive us of our lives without due process. The absence of this protection would be catastrophic. (This is the same part of the Constitution that the Supreme Court refused to apply to the unborn in Roe v. Wade.)

Did Senator Lautenberg actually mean to say that pro-lifers ought to have none of the above liberties? Probably not– from the context, he seemed to have only freedom of speech in mind (which is bad enough). But the implications of the words he chose show incredible hostility to supporters of prenatal rights. So much for toning down political rhetoric.