America’s foundation was built on the standard that all humans are created equal with the right to life. Since our country’s birth 250 years ago, American leaders have stood in the gap for those whose rights have been encroached upon.
Each of them carried the American tradition of valuing every life, no matter how small, whether culture deemed it lesser than, and speaking the truth boldly for change. At Save the Storks, we are highlighting a few of these American leaders and what they have said about the value of every life.
*The leaders featured in this article represent a range of beliefs, backgrounds, and eras in American history. Save the Storks does not endorse every view held by each individual highlighted here. We have chosen to honor the specific words and convictions they expressed about the value of human life, which we believe reflect a truth that transcends time, politics, and personal ideology.
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin is one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America. Best known for his experiments with electricity and the invention of the bifocals, Benjamin Franklin was more than an incredible mind. He was also a bold leader and the only Founding Father to sign all four documents that established the United States, including the Declaration of Independence. Eventually, Franklin would become President of the Abolitionist Society and petition Congress to end slavery.
“Every man of the commonalty is, of common right, and by the laws of God, a freeman, and entitled to the free enjoyment of liberty.”
Franklin believed that freedom was not a privilege granted by powerful men but a God-given right belonging to every human being without exception. At Save the Storks, we believe this right extends to every person, including those not yet born. No life is too small, too inconvenient, or too overlooked to matter. Franklin spent his final years fighting for those whose humanity was being denied. We are still fighting for the same thing today.
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln is often considered a favorite among presidents for his historic achievement of ending slavery in America. Born in a one-room log cabin, Abraham Lincoln came from humble roots, teaching himself to read and write and eventually passing the bar exam without formal education. His boldness to speak against slavery and his eventual election as President of the United States led to the Civil War. But his military strategy, conviction, and powerful speeches meant he was able to end the war, end slavery, and begin a new America.
“Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves; and, under a just God, cannot long retain it.”
Lincoln saw injustice clearly when much of the nation was blind to it, and he paid the ultimate price for speaking the truth.
At Save the Storks, we believe the same moral courage is needed today. Our Declaration of Independence is held up in tension as long as our nation fails to see the preborn as full human beings deserving of the same freedom Lincoln fought to secure for all Americans. Every woman who walks onto one of our Save the Storks Mobile Medical Clinics deserves to know the truth about the life she carries, and every preborn child deserves a champion willing to speak up for them.
Read Next: The American Dream Begins with Life, Family, and Freedom
Frederick Douglass
Born into slavery, Frederick Douglass’ life and legacy is that of a man who overcame and then went on to fight for others. Frederick Douglass escaped from slavery disguised as a free sailor, then dedicated his life to becoming an abolitionist and powerful orator.
Douglass changed hearts and minds by exposing the hypocrisy of a country founded on freedom with the institution of slavery still intact. Eventually, he became a globally known advocate, a bestselling author with his book Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, and a friend of other advocates like Abraham Lincoln and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
In his famous speech “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” he declared, “This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn.”
Could not the same be said for the preborn? Is the Fourth of July theirs as well, if they are still considered by many Americans to be not fully human, still denied the first right of our Declaration, the right to life?
“It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.”
While some argue that abortion is an easy solution, all it really brings is more brokenness. Why don’t we as a nation recommit to building strong children, letting them live, rather than allowing the cycle of brokenness to continue through the pain and grief that so often follows?
At Save the Storks, we believe that the road to true freedom for all means supporting all— the mother, the family, and the life she carries. That is the work our Save the Storks Mobile Medical Clinics do every single day.
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States and one of the most energetic and larger-than-life figures in American history. A soldier, conservationist, explorer, and author, Roosevelt was known for his conviction that a life well lived was one of courage, service, and moral purpose. He was also a devoted father of six children, and few American leaders have written more passionately about the sacred importance of motherhood and family life to the health of a nation.
Roosevelt lost both his mother and his first wife on the same day in 1884, a grief that shaped his deep reverence for the women who bear and raise children. He believed that no work in the world was more important, more demanding, or more worthy of honor than motherhood.
“Alone of human beings, the good and wise mother stands on a plane of equal honor with the bravest soldier; for she has gladly gone down to the brink of the chasm of darkness to bring back the children in whose hands rests the future of the years.”
Roosevelt understood that motherhood is not a small or ordinary thing. It is an act of profound courage. At Save the Storks, we exist to stand alongside the mothers who are walking toward that moment of decision, often alone and afraid, and to make sure they know they are not walking alone. The women who step onto our mobile medical clinics are the very mothers Roosevelt was describing, brave, worthy of honor, and carrying in their arms the future of our nation.
Read Next: 8 American Mothers Who Made History
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan was the 40th President of the United States, famously known as the “Great Communicator,” a title that could be attributed in part to his earlier career as an actor in Hollywood.
Earlier in his political career, Reagan signed the Therapeutic Abortion Act as Governor of California, which legalized abortion in cases where a mother’s mental or physical health was in danger, or in cases of rape or incest. Reagan later had a profound change of heart after discovering that the broad mental health provision was causing abortion rates in California to skyrocket. He came to believe he had made a grave mistake.
This led him to become one of the most powerful pro-life voices in American history. He spoke at multiple March for Life rallies, arguing for the overturning of Roe v. Wade on constitutional grounds, and published a ten-page essay, Abortion and the Conscience of the Nation, in which he compared the abortion debate directly to the Civil Rights era and the abolition of slavery.
“We cannot diminish the value of one category of human life — the unborn — without diminishing the value of all human life.”
Reagan had the foresight to understand that the normalization of abortion would diminish our nation’s value of life overall. His willingness to publicly change his mind and speak boldly about it is itself a model of moral courage. At Save the Storks, we stand on that same conviction. The life of a preborn child is not a political question but a human one. Every life lost to abortion diminishes all of us.
The American Tradition of Standing in the Gap
No matter the era, there is always someone with less — less rights, less resources, less voice, or no voice at all. As Americans, it is our right and our tradition to stand in the gap, to follow these incredible heroes of the past by making a stand for those who cannot stand for themselves.
‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ – Matthew 25:40
At Save the Storks, we exist to create stories of hope and empowerment for every woman facing an unplanned pregnancy. We use our voices to speak to the woman who feels alone, abandoned, and afraid. We come alongside her to help her choose life.
Right now, every gift to Save the Storks is being matched dollar for dollar through September 30. Your gift today goes twice as far to make history in our country, just as these leaders modeled, by showing up and speaking up for those who cannot fight for themselves, until everyone in our country truly has the freedom our nation was built on.
