Abortion & 13th Amendment: Civil War Wasn’t Fought to End Pregnancy

Pregnancy isn’t slavery. Pretending otherwise isn’t a serious effort to change the law and is unworthy of the serious role of a federal judge. It also requires ignoring binding Supreme Court precedent.

Federal district judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly is overseeing a criminal prosecution of anti-abortion protesters in D.C. who stand accused of obstructing access to abortion clinics. The charges were brought under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, commonly known as the FACE Act, and also under 18 U.S.C. § 248(a)(1), which prohibits private conspiracies to “injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person . . . in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or because of his having so exercised the same.”

About the Author

Dan McLaughlin

Dan McLaughlin is a senior writer at National Review Online and a fellow at National Review Institute.

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Pregnancy isn’t slavery. Pretending otherwise isn’t a serious effort to change the law and is unworthy of the serious role of a federal judge. It also requires ignoring binding Supreme Court precedent.

Federal district judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly is overseeing a criminal prosecution of anti-abortion protesters in D.C. who stand accused of obstructing access to abortion clinics. The charges were brought under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, commonly known as the FACE Act, and also under 18 U.S.C. § 248(a)(1), which prohibits private conspiracies to “injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person . . . in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or because of his having so exercised the same.”