Jesse Jackson Once Said Abortion is “Genocide.” He Was Right

Jesse Jackson when he was pro-life in 1973:

"Abortion is too nice a word for something cold, like murder." pic.twitter.com/KxOG1hLhbC

— LifeNews.com (@LifeNewsHQ)February 17, 2026

The news of Rev. Jesse Jackson’s death lands hard today, because before he climbed the ranks of national politics, he spoke with rare moral clarity about the child in the womb. His early words cut straight to the truth about abortion and about the value of every human life.

In 1973, he told Jet magazine, “Abortion is genocide. Anything growing is living… If you got the thrill to set the baby in motion and you don’t have the will to protect it, you’re dishonest…” He saw abortion as an attack on his own community and on the future of children whose gifts the world would never see.

A few years later, he drew an even sharper line. In 1977, he compared abortion to the old defenses of slavery, warning that “the name has changed, but the game remains the same” when society strips the fetus, the embryo, and the baby of protection. He spoke of new life with reverence, insisting, “It takes three to make a baby: a man, a woman, and the Holy Spirit.” For a time, he stood squarely with the unborn. ---More...