Angsty and unsettled politicians are saying that the country is “having a conversation.” Unlike those multibillion-dollar aid packages, which are always said to be the true consensus of the people, Americans really are having one here. And it’s a tough one to have. Baby genocide! A woman’s right to bodily autonomy! Then a “moderate” chimes in, saying that we should have some compromises, like time limits on when the procedure can be done, or making sure their tax-dollars don’t go to funding it. This is the Abortion Question. While babies are being cut up inside the womb, the country has been cut up by talking about it.
In my state of Arizona, the Supreme Court just ruled to uphold an 1864 law that criminalizes abortion in every case, with the sole exception for when a woman’s life is at risk. There are no other exceptions, not even for victims of rape. Apparently, Democrats wish to allow Americans to have access to abortion, for any reason, at any stage of gestation. Republicans are split, with plenty of them taking the side of the majority of Americans, who would allow abortions in the first trimester.
I, too, am of three or four minds about the issue.
We’re certain of what Death is – a straight flatline – but what exactly is Life? I’ve never been convinced that a beating heart is the only thing that constitutes Living. Remember the old phrase “life and limb”? The dead have no need for food, medicine, or shelter – but you and I do. As for Love? Some of us more than others, but with the need for it mostly universal.
Recently, I spoke with a mother I’ve known for a while on Facebook. We’ll call her Mila. She’s a single mom of three kids. I told Mila that the issue, once again, has become wedged inside my brain. Mila considers herself very pro-family. “I’m a militant pro-lifer,” she said. “Procreation is very important. Our replacement rate is 2.1. We’re far below that at 1.6.” She asserts that “people need to buckle up and make more babies.” I offer a counter that misses the bigger point: mass infertility is more likely due to all the endocrine disrupters.
I then shared my frustration. I said that prolifers “are weird, because they’re not only anti-abortion, but pro-procreation – but only until the baby gets outside the womb.” There’s a contradiction here somewhere, I’m positive. I’m obviously not the first to point out the hypocrisy of so-called pro-lifers. The term they use these days is “pro-birther.” We’ve all seen that meme of the ultrasound, juxtaposed with a fleshly-pink newborn: “Same child, different location.” Indeed, and it’s also the same child twenty years on, even if it’s been abandoned, neglected, or abused. TradCon fantasies notwithstanding, many humans have been conceived by careless people who had no intention of doing so. Conservatives prefer to call this a “crisis pregnancy,” which is a euphemism that’s easier to say than “unwanted” or “unplanned.” If these pregnant women can’t find help, then let their kids join the 606,000 already in foster care.
But the so-called pro-lifers must know that kids who go through the foster care system are much more likely to have a negative outcome. Depression, addiction, and violent tendencies – they say – are much more common amongst kids who have been shuffled from house to dorm. This is likely where we find the origins of disturbed, maladjusted, and violent adults. I can already hear the empathetic Christians: “We’re glad you weren’t aborted – but we do wish you were dead now.” Granting this, it would appear that the pro-life premise often leads to an anti-life conclusion.
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