Brian Rohrbough says America has a “culture of death.” But when he makes the claim, he brings a bit more credibility than others who say the same thing.
Rohrbough’s son was among those killed at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., 10 years ago this April. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, two bona fide nut jobs, went on a shooting spree that left 12 students and one teacher dead. Klebold and Harris fatally shot themselves when their carnage was done.
Rohrbough examined all the public records associated with what came to be called the Columbine Massacre. How the ramblings of Klebold and Harris on videotapes convinced him that America has a “culture of death, rooted in abortion” will be part of Rohrbough’s speech at the Institute on the Constitution tomorrow night in Anne Arundel County.
Located in Pasadena in the 8000 block of Ritchie Highway, the IOTC is an organization that “advocates the restoration of our constitutional republic by offering classes, lectures and products designed to reacquaint the American people with our history, our heritage and our Constitution,” according to IOTC spokesman John Lofton.
Rohrbough is president of American Right To Life, a group he formed in November of 2007 along with “30 other pro-lifers from around the country, including former Ambassador Alan Keyes,” Rohrbough said Tuesday from his home in Colorado. The title of his speech will be “The Pro-Life Industry vs. the Pro-Life Ministry: Strategy vs. Morality.”
But back to what Rohrbough heard Klebold and Harris saying in those home videos, and why he thinks the comments are linked to a “culture of death” and to legalized abortion.
“They said they had an obligation to kill those who are weaker,” Rohrbough said. “At the end of their speech they went on a 10-minute racial tirade.” Rohrbough remembers the main message that Klebold and Harris hoped to drive home.
“They said ‘We’re above you; you deserve to die,’ ” said Rohrbough, who believes the Columbine murderers got their ideas from evolution and Darwin’s theory of natural selection and survival of the fittest. Also at fault, Rohrbough believes, is the public school system, which teaches “there is no absolute right or wrong.” Finally, it’s legalized abortion that “undermines the inherent value of human life,” Rohrbough said. It contributes to America’s “culture of death” and is the reason he and others co-founded American Right To Life.
Now I’m not a fan of the slice-and-dice-a-fetus crowd myself, but I’m not sure that I agree with Rohrbough’s contention that legalized abortion drives a modern-day “culture of death” in America. Some could argue that, given our sordid history, America has always had a “culture of death” and that it was worse in years past.
Let’s see, there was that nasty lynching business. Dueling. Riots targeting black Americans in the nation’s antebellum cities — all of them in the North, by the way — and the carnage of the Reconstruction era. How about the Colorado militia’s notorious massacre of Native Americans at Sand Creek in 1864? And let’s not forget the war against labor organizers — or organized labor’s retaliation against management — that went on in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. One of the worst incidents was the 1914 Ludlow Massacre, when the Colorado National Guard strafed a tent city of miners with machine-gun fire and left 20 people dead.
I’m betting they don’t teach that in Colorado public schools either.
What legalized abortion has done — especially the Roe v. Wade decision — is not reinforce an American “culture of death.” The Roe decision and legalized abortion gave new life and impetus to America’s “culture of whoopee.” You know, the one that promotes the notion of sexual promiscuity and says that there are no consequences for that promiscuity.
Was there a “culture of whoopee” before Roe? Of course there was. But there was also an understanding: There would be consequences if you engaged in it, like unwanted pregnancies without abortion as an out, depending on the state you happened to live in.
Roe gave those who practiced irresponsible sex an out. Feminists have long hailed the Roe decision as fundamental to women’s rights. You’d think the fact that seven men on an all-male Supreme Court voted for it might make them a little suspicious.
Because you can be sure of one thing: On Jan. 23, 1973, the day after Roe was handed down, there were probably thousands of men shouting “YEAH! Way to go Supreme Court!”
Gregory Kane is a columnist who has been writing about Baltimore and Maryland for more than 15 years. Look for his columns in the editorial section every Thursday and Sunday. Reach him at [email protected].
