To: Joseph R. Biden, Jr., President

The White House

Congratulations on your assuming office. Frankly, I didn’t think it would happen, but elections can take surprising turns. Here’s hoping your time as president proves to be for the good of the country.

And congratulations on the theme of your inauguration: America United. Do we ever need it. Sad to say, we are more divided than at any time in our history. As we see on a virtual daily basis, our politicians have stopped working together to find creative solutions to the problems we face. It’s true at all levels of government, and it’s only getting worse. These days, the Democrats and Republicans couldn’t agree to the time if they were all looking at the same clock. So your plans for uniting the country will be more difficult than at any time since the time before our Civil War.

That’s where we need start looking for the reasons behind our division. Back then the issue was slavery. Thomas Jefferson once described it as like holding a wolf by the ear: can’t keep holding, but can’t safely let it go. People from both sides tried compromising. In 1820, Missouri was admitted to the Union as a slave state, Maine as a free state, and northwestern territories were declared free. Didn’t work. In 1850, Congress admitted California as a free state, abolished the slave trade in D.C., and amended the Fugitive Slave Act to require the return of escaped slaves. That didn’t work either. In 1857, the U.S. Supreme Court declared that a freed slave was mere property. The next year, a 30-person melee erupted in Congress. Three years later, brothers were shooting each other.

The compromises didn’t hold because they failed to recognize the slavers’ inherent dignity. People couldn’t unite over compromises that denied the blessings of liberty to all. People couldn’t sleep knowing that other humans could be treated and disposed of in whatever way their “owners” deemed fit. Today we look back at those days in horror, assuring ourselves from afar that that we wouldn’t have been so cruel.

Yes, we think of ourselves as more enlightened and compassionate than our ancestors. Yet we are neither. We’ve managed to treat human beings worse than slaves. We’ve created a class of people—the unborn—whom we have deprived of all human rights. They don’t have a right to be born, to take a breath, to see the sun, to utter a sound, to have their own life’s stories. Sadly, you seem to be just fine with that.

I’ve heard many times that you are a devout Catholic who believes as a matter of faith that human life begins at conception. You’ve repeatedly said that you believe in science. So why do you disregard science when it comes to the unborn? The list of medical studies proving the human life begins at conception is as long as your arms. When life begins is not a matter of faith at all. Science tells us that at the moment of conception, every human being has all DNA he or she will ever have. At that very moment, the person is fully human—just not fully developed. That should come as no surprise. At birth no one is fully developed. If we were, it would be a pretty tough delivery for the mom.

Perhaps you support abortion because you believe that you should not impose your religious views on others. Do you oppose murder and other crimes of violence? So does your Church. So does every religion. Do you oppose crimes against property, like theft, robbery, and trespass? People of faith oppose them too. As a kid, you probably learned to oppose them based on the Ten Commandments—a religious law if there ever was one. So should all those laws be abolished? Or should we simply recognize that they exist to promote the common good of all people regardless of their beliefs—or lack of belief.

I know you believe legal abortion gives women “freedom.” You have the wrong notion of freedom. It’s not the right to do whatever we want, even if wrong. Are women “free” to steal? Are men “free” to rape? Freedom is a God-given human right to pursue what is objectively good for all. You’ve said that in picking federal judges you’ll have a litmus test: support for legal abortion. Well, there is a litmus test for freedom. It is whether a person is willing to fight and die to preserve it. Our country’s greatest heroes did. So would you personally be willing to fight and die so that women can take the lives of their children? Or so Planned Parenthood can make billions doing it? As commander-in-chief, would you send young men and women die to preserve the right to kill?

Obviously, we’re pretty far apart. Like couples in good marriages, we’ll need to compromise if we’re ever going to achieve the unity we’d all like. So here’s the offer, one I believe millions of your fellow citizens would support. Through the appointment of judges and the enactment of laws your party commits to support, you assure the legal protection of the unborn. In return, we will support your entire agenda. Need a tax hike? You got it—just end the slaughter. Social justice? We’ll be there for you—just pardon the unborn. Immigration reform? Of course—just stop the bloodshed. Environmental protection? With our blessing—just help the most innocent and defenseless humans of all.

Think of what this means. You can end the divide that has existed since our Supreme Court so tragically legalized abortion. We can truly be brothers and sisters again. Is it a deal?

Judging from your first ten days, it appears not. A chance like this may never come again, for you or the country. Please, Mr. President, don’t blow it.

Paul V. Esposito is a Catholic lawyer who writes on a variety of pro-life topics. He and his wife Kathy live in Elmhurst, Illinois and have six children.

© Paul V. Esposito 2021. Culture of Life. Permission to copy and distribute for pro-life purposes is granted. Visit us at http://www.the-culture-of-life.com/.