Abortion is the moral issue of our time as slavery was in the last century.

Pro-lifers who want to engage in open debate on the issue are dismissed as misguided and judgemental, or worse, fined and jailed for peacefully demonstrating against something they find morally repugnant.

During the floor debates in Congress in the 1830’s there was a move to stifle discussion on the issue of slavery by introducing unconstitutional resolutions which John Quincy Adams eloquently spoke against.

A few of the Congressmen who kept the issue of slavery from open debate were Hammond, Pinckney, Owens, Lawler, Alford, and Waddy Thompson, who even wanted a grand jury to indict Adams just for reading petitions from citizens who opposed slavery.

They all shouted to expel Adams for suggesting that free and open debate was a constitutional guarantee. He was ridiculed, scorned, and despised. Yet of all the names mentioned, which one today embodies the spirit of freedom that we equate with honor and integrity?

It is JQA, not the men who tried to silence him.