The Abortion Issue

You don't agree with me, you don't
agree with me? Why, I'll take care
of you...

What bothers me most about the abortion issue is how both sides have totally used and abused it to further other goals. Somehow in all the debate we've forgotten about the women who are actually going through this dreadful process.

As I write this, some Catholic leader in Atlanta is sending out letters and writing articles urging all parishioners to only vote for "pro-life" candidates. That's not a problem, since most people around here are doing that anyway — they are called single-issue voters.

Now, without question, I find abortions troubling and wrong. Whether you believe in a "logic-based" or "God-based" morality, abortion fails both tests. I do not believe it is right to create the most complex organism in the Universe and then destroy it.

A few points to ponder:

• Who are these women having abortions?

• Why are they having abortions?

• Just how many women are having abortions? Enough to justify making this a key, lightening rod issue in every freaking election?

In 1988 I served on the Mayor's Task Force for Teenage Pregnancy, and did volunteer work on this issue again in the late 1990s. What I found is that those getting the abortions are often poor, and often either extremely rural or urban. It deeply troubles me that people like right-wing zealot Pat Swindall would like to throw these women in jail, as if they haven't gone through enough already. I have a better idea — why don't we throw the guys who impregnated them in prison?

ONE DAY...

One day many years from now humans will look back and say, "How did we ever engage in that barbaric abortion practice? How could we destroy the life within us?"

The Solution

Much to the chagrin of the "hyper-moralistic" Christian fundamentalists, throwing rape and incest victims in jail makes little sense. What makes even less sense is aggressively pursuing anti-choice policies in poor Third World nations where women are forced to have their babies, only to see them starve in the streets.

The answer is to focus on PREVENTION. Young women need to be educated, contraceptives need to be universal, and men need to RESPECT the women by exerting more self-control. Our government needs to ignore the small but vocal moralists who scream, "Sex education will only make teens have more sex." What we need is comprehensive sex education in our schools. Abstinence-only education is a dark humor joke, since we know a certain percentage of young people are going to have sex anyway, regardless of what they are taught in school, home, or church.

Digging Heels In

There used to be a saying of "safe, legal, and rare" that appears to be a fair compromise for both the Left and Right. But, unfortunately, the Right keeps looking for creative ways to chip away at the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision. This includes passing "back door" laws that limit abortion and stacking the courts with anti-choice judges. In response, women's groups are forced to dig their heels in and mount defensive campaigns. Abortion has become a key point of conflict in the ever-widening Culture War. On several occasions, I have seen pro-life protesters carrying posters that show aborted fetuses — the images have an uncanny resemblance to a McDonald's Happy Meal.

Are the abortion protesters saving children by offering to adopt them? Are they addressing the dire situations that lead to abortion? Are they being a Big Sister to young ladies who simply need companionship, a caring friend, and someone to talk to? Are the protesters so busy politicizing abortion that they have forgotten that the women are often victims too? Victims of abuse, victims of men who use them and leave them, victims of drunken fathers who commit incest?

With all the churches and talk of morality in this country, it is a shock that we have one of the highest teen pregnancy rates — 53 births per 1,000 teenagers, which is a higher rate than India and Rwanda. This rate is much higher than those worldly Europeans — Great Britain - 20 babies per 1,000 adolescents, Germany - 11, Norway - 11, Finland - 8, Sweden -7, Denmark - 7, the Netherlands - 5.

The bottom line is that something is terribly wrong in the United States, and rather than addressing the source of the problems (poverty, poor education, right-wing plutocracy) we focus on abortion, which is merely a side effect of our societal ills.

I place blame for the abortion tragedy squarely on the religious community. Instead of holding after-school programs for at-risk teens, they would rather wave their spaghetti and meatball posters in front of an abortion clinic. Or worse yet, they would prefer to throw young girls in prison instead of dealing with the core issues. I also place blame on mothers and fathers who need to spend more time with their kids. Come on parents, where are you?

A great source of abortion facts: Alan Guttmacher Institute . Oh, and by the way, abortions in the U.S. are declining.