HISTORICAL PARALLELS

Why JD Vance Compared Abortion to Slavery, a Bad Faith Attack on Rights

Efforts to compare choice to oppression fell flat

Portrait of a woman leaning on table | Photo by Bobby Dimas via Pexels

Comparing slavery to controversial social policies has become one of America’s most shameful pastimes. Despite the nation's failure to engage in restorative justice to mitigate the lasting impact of chattel slavery, politicians regularly use “slavery” as a rhetorical device to condemn policies they disagree with. In the latest example, audio resurfaced of J.D. Vance, the Republican VP nominee, committing this faux pas. “There’s something comparable between abortion and slavery, and that while the people who obviously suffer the most are those subjected to it, I think it has this morally distorting effect on the entire society,” he shared on The Catholic Current podcast. By drawing the comparison between abortion and slavery, Vance attempted to stifle efforts to codify women’s reproductive rights. However, such comments miss the mark, managing to offend not only women but also Black descendants of enslaved people.

Any discussion about slavery would need to revisit the brutal conditions they were subjected to, and any comparison would have to include an examination of the freedom of groups relative to enslavement. There are no laws that require a woman to have…