Human Exceptionalism and Artificial Intelligence

This year, as America remembers those who shaped our nation over the last 250 years, Dr. Mildred Fay Jefferson should be honored for her dedicated fight for life. Born in Texas, the only child of a Methodist minister and a school teacher, Mildred would follow the town doctor on his rounds. From his horse and buggy, he told her that if she wanted to be a doctor, she should “just go right ahead” and do it. 

So in 1951, after graduating from a segregated public high school, Jefferson became the first black woman to graduate from Harvard Medical School. She was also the first woman to intern at Boston City Hospital, the first female surgeon at the Boston University Medical Center, the first woman admitted to the Boston Surgical Society, and a professor of surgery at Boston University Medical School. Over her career, Jefferson was awarded 28 honorary degrees. x

Coming from the segregated South in an era of intense racism, Dr. Jefferson’s accomplishments in medicine as a black woman is cause enough to celebrate her life. However, she should also be remembered for tirelessly working to oppose abortion. 

In 1970, the American Medical Association decided it was ethical for physicians to perform abortions in jurisdictions where they were legal. Dr. Jefferson saw this as a travesty and believed it violated both the Hippocratic Oath and Judeo-Christian ethics. She immediately began working for the pro-life cause in Massachusetts, co-founding Massachusetts Citizens for Life. In 1971, she was appointed to the board of the National Right to Life. 

Late in 1972, a Boston public television station featured Dr. Jefferson in “The Advocates,” a series that covered abortion issues. The program aired nationwide and highlighted Dr. Jefferson as an eloquent speaker with impeccable logic. Her appearance was so effective that many minds were changed. One letter she received said: 

Yours was the most clear-cut exposition on this problem that I have ever heard. Several years ago, I was faced with the issue of whether to sign a California abortion bill. I must confess to never having given the matter of abortion any serious thought until that time. No other issue since I have been in office has caused me to do so much study and soul-searching. I wish I could have heard your views before our legislation was passed. You made it irrefutably clear that an abortion is the taking of a human life. I’m grateful to you. 

The letter was signed, “Ronald Reagan.” 

After the Supreme Court issued the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, Dr. Jefferson redoubled her efforts in the pro-life cause and eventually became president of the NRL. The most prominent pro-life spokesperson in the country, she saw the fight against abortion as a moral imperative, saying, “An individual never has the private right to choose to kill for whatever reasons, be they whim, convenience, or compulsion.” She also recognized the implications of abortion for the medical profession: “The doctor who willingly accepts destroying life will have no grounds on which to object if the state should compel that doctor to destroy life.” 

She recognized that abortion on demand would threaten the conscience rights of medical professionals. If doctors could be coerced by the state, anyone could: 

It’s too late for doctors to stay in that comfortable environment. Doctors must exert their rights and obligations, or we will be the first slaves of the state, and you [the general public] will soon join us. 

As the world reckoned with the extent of the Nazi program, Dr. Jefferson recognized abortion and forced sterilization as tools of eugenics. Responding to Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger, she clearly understood the trajectory of abortion: 

I became a physician in order to help save lives. I am at once a physician, a citizen, and a woman, and I am not willing to stand aside and allow the concept of expendable human lives to turn this great land of ours into just another exclusive reservation where only the perfect, the privileged, and the planned have the right to live. 

Once again, Dr. Jefferson was correct. Abortion is the primary means of eliminating lives that are undervalued and unwanted. 

Recognizing the need for political action, Dr. Jefferson helped the NRL establish a PAC for pro-life candidates. In a testimony before Congress, she urged people from all walks of life to be involved in the pro-life cause, recognizing that it was not just an issue for women: 

The fight for the right to life is . . . the cause of every man, woman and child who cares not only about his or her own family, but the whole family of man. 

She also called students into the movement, saying,  

I hope that wherever you [students] have a department of women’s studies or black studies that you will have a corresponding pro-life movement. 

Dr. Jefferson died in 2010. Her contributions to the cause of life are immeasurable. This black female physician, with impressive rhetorical, organizational, and political skills, laid a solid foundation for the pro-life movement.

Related Article

Dr. Mildred Jefferson: Hero of the Pro-Life Movement

Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/LightFieldStudios

John Stonestreet is President of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, and radio host of BreakPoint, a daily national radio program providing thought-provoking commentaries on current events and life issues from a biblical worldview. John holds degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (IL) and Bryan College (TN), and is the co-author of Making Sense of Your World: A Biblical Worldview.

The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of CrosswalkHeadlines.

BreakPoint is a program of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. BreakPoint commentaries offer incisive content people can't find anywhere else; content that cuts through the fog of relativism and the news cycle with truth and compassion. Founded by Chuck Colson (1931 – 2012) in 1991 as a daily radio broadcast, BreakPoint provides a Christian perspective on today's news and trends. Today, you can get it in written and a variety of audio formats: on the web, the radio, or your favorite podcast app on the go.