So-called pro-lifers are among the biggest hypocrites and liars out there. They profess to be defending the sanctity of human life, when in fact they care about only the nine months (or less) between conception and birth. They are perfect examples of zealots, who redouble their efforts when they have forgotten their aim. They knee-jerk attack Planned Parenthood when that organization is about a lot more than abortion. They use all manner of sophistry to attack not just abortion, but birth control and sex ed in schools. The “right to life” movement is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
The abortion debate is unusual in that it isn’t one end versus the other, but one extreme versus the middle ground. Pro-choice means exactly that – pro-choice. It’s up to the one with the “baby bump” to determine the outcome of the pregnancy. Pro-choice can actually be anti-abortion sometimes. This is because the real opposite of anti-choice is – anti-choice. One side says that every pregnancy should be carried to term, while its real opposite is that every pregnancy should be terminated. Unless you want humans to go extinct, you don’t want to harbor that attitude. If you are truly pro-choice, you support a woman who wants to carry her pregnancy to term when others tell her to terminate.
If you really examine both sides of the abortion fight, you realize that pro-choice is actually anti-abortion, while “pro-life” is pro-abortion.
Say what?
What.
Pro-choice activists by and large support better birth control, better access to birth control, and comprehensive sex education, all of which prevent abortions by preventing unwanted pregnancies in the first place. Anti-choice activists oppose these measures for the most part. It is like opposing highway deaths while condemning seat belts, airbags, and defensive-driving training.
Self-appointed custodians of other people’s wombs may be sincere in protecting embryos and fetuses, but after the moment of birth their concern drops to zero. They may make the occasional pseudo-charitable gesture, crowing about giving one box of food to a homeless shelter; but their concern for human life that is not white, straight, male, fundamentalist Christian and wealthy is scantier than a stripper’s outfit. Where are they when people hold rallies against hunger, against war, against gun violence? Lots of things stop beating hearts, so why don’t the soi-dissant guardians of human life oppose them?
Not only that, many of them show no interest in providing for those babies that they want to “rescue” from the “abortion mills.” They want every ejaculation to get a Social Security number, but could not possibly care less whether those babies are fed, or housed, or clothed, or educated, or medicated when necessary. In fact, they don’t seem willing to make sure all pregnant women have access to affordable prenatal and perinatal care, or even to proper nutrition. Sure, sure, they’ll trot out one or two individuals they have “helped” – but are they willing to provide assistance for ALL expectant mothers? The people who oppose abortion are often the same ones who oppose providing affordable child care so the mothers can work and earn money rather than depend on public aid.
Sister Joan Chittister, a Roman Catholic nun, rather famously said, “I do not believe that just because you’re opposed to abortion that makes you pro-life. In fact, I think in many cases, your morality is deeply lacking if all you want is a child born but not a child fed, not a child educated, not a child housed. And why would I think that you don’t? Because you don’t want any tax money to go there. That’s not pro-life. That’s pro-birth. We need a much broader conversation on what the morality of pro-life is.” Even though she was speaking from an anti-abortion viewpoint, she still gets credit for pointing out the hypocrisy of abortion foes.
The latest dirty tactic by anti-choice activists is hopping on the voting restriction bandwagon. In other words, they are willing to destroy democracy and civil rights in the name of safeguarding the unborn. Clearly they don’t want the poor and marginalized – those who suffer the worst when denied reproductive freedom – from having a voice in government.
Meanwhile, governors in solidly red states sign “heartbeat” bills that will abolish abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detectable. This often occurs before a woman even knows she is pregnant. Apparently, antis think that life is just a heartbeat. Could that be an indication of their intellectual capacity, or at least of their understanding of biology?
Outlawing abortion will never stop abortion, merely force it underground. Women facing unwanted pregnancies will try all manner of risky methods to self-abort. “Back-alley” quasi-clinics will pop up like mushrooms after a frog-strangler. Girls and women who can’t find a practitioner, or afford one, may simply abandon their unwanted offspring – one does hear stories about newborns found in trash bins or other places from time to time. The basket-on-the-doorstep cliché has some basis in reality.
Some parrot “Adoption not abortion!” Yeah, right – order women and girls to give birth, and then take their babies away. What if the fetus is racially mixed, or handicapped? Currently there are approximately 424,000 children in foster care in the United States. Unless they get adopted, as soon as they turn 18 their flimsy support vanishes, and they will wind up homeless, or exploited by human traffickers, or in prison.
The anti-choice crusade never has been, is not, and never will be about protecting the sanctity of human life. It always has been, is, and will always be about controlling women, about reducing half the population to the status of brood cows. Controlling women’s reproduction is the mark of a highly bigoted and patriarchal society. Such a society is a sick society, trying to fly with only one wing. Denying half of its residents many opportunities means that many great minds are forbidden to develop. To paraphrase Malcolm X, you can’t keep Woman down without staying down with her.
Don’t like abortion? Don’t have one. But don’t force your views on anybody else’s uterus. And while you’re at it, care about life AFTER birth.
Lona) –
