Abortion

"Mary got pregnant from a kid named Tom who said he was in love. He said don't worry about a thing baby doll I'm the man you've been dreamin' of. But three months later he said he won't date her or return her calls. And she sweared god damn if I find that man I'm cuttin' off his balls. And then she heads for the clinic and she gets some static walkin' through the doors. They call her a killer, and they call her a sinner, and they call her a whore..."

Everlast - "Whitey Ford Sings the Blues"

I have spent many hours online debating abortion with the pro-life crowd and I have come to a number of conclusions concerning them:

1. Pro-lifers argue that life begins at conception, not at birth, thus they rationalize abortion as murder.



2. Pro-lifers are more interested in a blob of protoplasm the size of a pencil tip than they are a fully grown adult human female.



3. Pro-lifers are all for keeping a fetus alive and seeing a baby born, but they don't seem to have any interest in what happens to that child and mother after it is born.



4. Pro-lifers don't seem very interested in the sub-human conditions of fostercare in this country



5. Pro-lifers don't seem to notice that "baby brokering" is big money, how much is a baby worth (I personally know a woman who was paid $30,000.000 for her baby)?



6. Pro-lifers have no qualms about putting the shackles of pregnancy back on the woman who wishes to be free of them, as if thousands of years of misogyny weren't bad enough.



7. Pro-lifers seem to disregard or dismiss the hard won freedoms women have in this world.



8. Pro-lifers feel it is the responsibility of the state to reach into the wombs of women who oppose them and force them to comply with their moral standards. Imagine being put in jail because you wished to terminate a pregnancy!



9. Pro-lifers think nothing of the "back-alley" and "home abortions" which will quickly replace clean, safe, and sterile medical procedures if abortion is made illegal in this country, (ironically showing their unrealistic viewpoint and general disregard for human life).



10. Pro-lifers silently condone the use of violence to further their cause, they pay lip service to the notion that they do not agree with it, but in the same token, they do nothing to stop it.



11. Pro-lifers will use any form of propaganda or psychological warfare to further their goals no matter whom it hurts or damages in the process.



12. Pro-lifers don't seem interested in working to prevent conception through the use of family planning, comprehensive sex education, and the distribution of contraception, thus eliminating the need for. the whole abortion argument in the first place.

I am of the honest opinion that Roe Vs. Wade was a very smart decision for the simple fact that it acknowledges that it is not the governments role to intervene in the private decisions of legal citizens. To drag religious and moral objections into it is only creating more problems than solutions. Like so many other options in this country, everyone has a choice involved. If you don't believe in abortion, don't get one. When you begin to believe you have a right to make this decision for others, you've overstepped your rights and responsibilities as a citizen. Life is a precious thing, but a life is also a tremendous responsibility, which not all are suited for. Judging from the number of poorly raised children we already have in this country, I will opt for any option to keep this from continuing, even if it seems cold and heartless to do so. This nation was founded on the principles of freedom, to take those freedoms away isn't patriotic or sound. It is a tightening of the noose around our collective necks. The moment we begin to impose our moral standards on others is the moment we have thrown away the most prized and cherished freedoms we claim to hold dear. It is disheartening to think that people actually believe they are "saving" someone when they oppose abortion. Perhaps they feel it is the only way to save themselves. Alas, that is another issue and has little or no bearing on this one.

I'll write it again in case you missed it the first time. If you don't believe in abortion, the answer is simple: Don't get one. If it bothers you that other people get them, get a hobby (other than trying to impose your views and morality on everybody else).

© 1998-2001 J. S. Brown