Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look at an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth. For the Coulson Center, I'm John Stone Street.
Well, this year, as America remembers those who've shaped our nation over the last 250 years, at the top of our list of those to honor should be Dr. Mildred Fay Jefferson, someone who dedicated her life to fight for the unborn. Born in Texas, the only child of a Methodist minister and a schoolteacher, Mildred Jefferson would follow the town doctor around as he went 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. And so she did.
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 Boston Surgical Society, and a professor of surgery at Boston University Medical School. Over her career, Jefferson was awarded 28 different honorary degrees. 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 her tireless work to oppose abortion. In 1970, the American Medical Association decided it was ethical for physicians to perform abortions in those jurisdictions where they were legal. Dr. Jefferson saw this as a travesty. She believed it violated both the Hippocratic Oath and Judeo-Christian ethics, so she immediately began working for the pro-life.
Cause in the state of Massachusetts, co-founding the Massachusetts Citizens for Life organization. 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 a series called The Advocates, which covered abortion issues. The program aired nationwide and highlighted Dr.
Jefferson as an eloquent speaker with impeccable logic. Her appearance was so effective, many minds and hearts were changed. For example, one letter she received said this Yours was the most clear cut exposition on this problem 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. That letter was signed, RONLD RAGAN.
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 National Right to Life. The most prominent pro-life spokesperson in the country, she saw the fight against abortion as a moral imperative, saying, and I quote, 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 entire medical profession, saying, and I quote, 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, end quote. She recognized that abortion on demand would threaten the conscience rights of medical professionals. And if doctors could be coerced by the state, then anyone could. And I quote again. 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, Dr. Jefferson understood the trajectory of abortion for the nation.
Quote, I became a physician in order to help save lives. I am at once a physician, a citizen, and a woman, and I'm 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, end quote. Once again, Dr. Jefferson was correct. Long ago, abortion became the primary means of eliminating lives that are undervalued and unwanted.
Also, recognizing the need for political action, Dr. Jefferson helped the NRL establish a PAC for pro-life candidates. In her 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. Quote, 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. And she also called students into the movement, saying, I hope that wherever students have a Department of Women's Studies or Black Studies, you will have a corresponding pro-life movement, end quote.
Dr. Mildred Jefferson died in 2010, but her contributions to the cause of life are immeasurable. This black female physician, with impressive rhetorical, organizational, and political skill, laid a solid foundation for the pro-life movement. For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street with Breakpoint. Today's Breakpoint was co-authored with Dr.
Glenn Sunshine. If you're a fan of Breakpoint, leave us a review wherever you download your podcast. And for more resources or to share this commentary with others, go to breakpoint.org. Hey, breakpoint listeners, the Colson Center is coming to Knoxville, Tennessee. Join John Stone Street and Oz Guinness at the Knoxville Convention Center on May 27th for a Truth Rising Watch Party.
Truth Rising is a groundbreaking documentary about courageous faith in this civilizational moment. It tells the stories of Christians like Chloe Cole, Seth Dillon, and Jack Phillips choosing courage over fear, making a difference where God has called them. We'll have free popcorn and soda at the watch party, and we'll enjoy a live QA with John Stone Street and Oz Guinness after the film. Register today at colsoncenter.org slash Knoxville. That's colsoncenter.org slash Knoxville.
