Politics

With the presidential elections only a few days away, one subject keeps coming to my mind. Now please don't misunderstand me, I'm not a "one-issue" voter, but this is something I've been spending a lot of time thinking about. One of the candidates recently attended a Planned Parenthood rally where he said that he believed that abortion needed to remain legal. He went on to say that as a father he would not want one of his little girls to have to pay the price for one of their “mistakes” for the rest of their lives. In other words, he believes that abortion is acceptable in the case of an unexpected/crisis pregnancy.

Now, as I see it there are two problems here. First, I have difficulty supporting any individual who does not value human life. This includes another certain presidential candidate who supports capital punishment. I do not believe that there are ANY circumstances by which we take life, which makes military service especially vexing for me (I support our men and women serving in the armed forces, but I have trouble believing that war is justifiable). Getting back to the issue at hand, I believe that life begins at the moment of conception, and as such I have a problem with the practice of abortion. While I do not think they should be ostracized from society, I also do not think abortions should be done at the drop of a hat, which makes me lean more on the side that says they should be illegal.

But therein arises the second point of contention. There are some who would suggest that although they think abortion is an abomination, they do not believe they have the right to stop others from practicing it. Further, they fear that if abortion was made illegal then women would resort to unsafe abortion techniques and they would hurt themselves in the process. To this argument I can only say, “phooey!”

At what point in American history did we decide that murder was optional. To say that we do not have the right to stop people from practicing abortions is paramount to saying we do not have the right to stop people from committing murder. The difference is that we have a lower view of the rights of a fetus than we do of a birthed human being.

As for worrying about women’s health, I think there’s something valid in that part of the argument, but my question then changes…isn’t the potential mother still making a choice. I don’t hear anyone wanting to arrest a woman who’s had an abortion (that’s traumatic enough). These people are more concerned about her health, but why? She willingly made that choice.

Don’t worry—I’m not as obtuse as I’m sounding. I understand the background of the argument. It becomes a justice and equality issue. The number one cause of abortions in this country is money. Women who because of their job, their education, or their family situation, do not feel they have the time and financial resources to care for a child. And so, although they may not believe that abortion is right, they choose it as a means of survival.

All this is to say that maybe there should be a third stance on abortion: regulation. This could keep abortion legal, but highly regulate it. Women could be required to attend an educational class talking about the physical, emotional, and psychological affects of an abortion. They could be shown all of their choices (keeping the child, adoption, and abortion) along with the consequences. And finally, they could receive some kind of financial aid or counseling to help them get a better job, have more resources for raising a child, and a chance at avoiding a decision they don’t want to make in the first place.

This is just an idea, and I’m not entirely happy with it, but it is a far cry better than the system we have in place right now. At least this way a certain amount of love and hope makes it into the process.