I wasn't sensitive to the plight of girls and women everywhere in the country who faced a terrifying choice if they found themselves with an unwanted pregnancy. Find an abortion doctor somewhere who would do the deed. And that was if you could afford it. And if you were sure it would remain a secret. And if you had at least some hope that the doctor knew what he was doing, had clean and safe equipment, and could handle any sort of emergency. But the truth is that many, many terrified young women didn't even think about those things. They just knew that they couldn't or wouldn't bring a child into this world. Or the other choice is to have the baby. And then another choice presents itself. Keep it or put it up for adoption. Both are difficult and heart wrenching decisions. The right one wasn't always made. Tragedy befell many young girls as their life was changed forever with that choice. I purposefully didn't include the guy in this part of the discussion because in those days the truth was that it was mostly on the woman. Not that it was right, it just was.
And then along came Roe v. Wade. It meant that the danger and agony that so many women faced was at least somewhat mitigated. At least getting an abortion became a relatively safe endeavor. But I'm sure it was emotionally draining. As a man, I obviously have trouble even commenting on it. The other thing it meant was that life was snuffed out before it got a chance. From an intellectual perspective I've mostly rationalized it from two perspectives. First, it's the woman's body, it's her choice. Second, and this is a real rationalization for me as I get older, is that if it's done early, it's not really a "viable human being". But what is "early"? Like I said, intellectually, I can rationalize all the good that comes from safe and legal abortions while squinting pretty hard at brutality of killing a baby. I know, I know, if you're of a particular mindset, it's not a baby. But...at some point it sorta is...
So as our population becomes larger, more boisterous, more attuned to social media, more coarse, more strident, more polarized, less caring, less attuned to traditional values, less religious, less family focused, things have changed. Somewhere along the line, as in so many other things we see everyday, we've all gone to our corners and moderate voices are drowned out by absolutism. Either you're for something or against something. And so it is with abortion. It is either the murder of defenseless babies by heartless women who don't care while colluding with a vile organization called Planned Parenthood or it's a woman's right to choose what is best for her and her body and her circumstances and the "fetus" is not a viable human so it is not killing, but aborting.
I didn't agree with Bill Clinton on a lot, but I think that his philosophy that he wanted abortions to be "safe, legal, and rare" was about as good a compromise as I could think of in what is a horrendously sad and emotional situation. But that was then. This is now.
I'm not a guy who blames Trump for every ill of society, but I do think that his personality, his combativeness, and his coarseness has contributed to this polarization that we see today. I won't get into why I think he is better than the alternative(s) on policy and so many other things, but I don't think as a leader he inspires us to be better. Because if you inspire people to be better, they not only want to emulate the leader's characteristics, but they respect his or her actions and philosophies. Clearly, about half of our population doesn't respect him. And the other half contains a lot of people like me who are disappointed at his impact on our culture. So people generally don't hesitate to take the most extreme position because that's how they see our leaders waging battles and either winning or losing arguments. And that's what they see in the abortion debate.
Three years ago Planned Parenthood was in the news for selling baby's body parts. It was a horrific and disgusting story. I wrote about it here. And it seems to me that this was the first time we saw arguments erupt into wars. PP took a lot of lumps. The fact that the government subsidizes them substantially and they are very active politically didn't help. But as I predicted, nothing happened. There were no repercussions. And then early this year the New York and Virginia legislatures passed laws that approve of abortion right up until the moment of birth. I wrote about that here. I'm pretty sure that these laws were pushed through by zealots. By people who put the "woman's right to choose" above anything else. They see their world through a particular lens, and it isn't one that recognizes life in the womb.
Now we see a few states like Georgia, Alabama, Missouri and maybe Louisiana passing laws just as extreme the other way. Not only are abortions in those states illegal after a heartbeat is detected, in the case of Alabama there is no consideration or exemption for pregnancy as a result of incest or rape. That, in my mind, is very extreme. They are not only thumbing their nose at Roe v. Wade, they are daring someone to take them to court. They obviously want Roe v. Wade relitigated and overturned.
When the last few Supreme Court judges were vetted in the Senate a key question was their view on Roe v Wade. These people are very smart and they reflected that Roe v. Wade is "settled law" and didn't go past that. So what will they do if a case challenging it comes before them. It's pretty much unknown but it's safe to say that they will not casually get rid of a law that impacts so many that's been in force since 1973. I know that in our 24-hour news cycle world, a lot of people want an answer yesterday. But that's not going to happen. It's going to take a long time for a case to wend it's way to SCOTUS. And when it gets there, the outcome is not certain. Remember the challenge to Obamacare and the surprise that came there?
So why write about this issue? It's easy to say it is what it is. Live your life. People are either for it or against it. But the thing is I don't think that's true. I think that when the average American considers the abortion issue, they realize there aren't any easy answers. It's trite, easy and formulaic to say you stand with Planned Parenthood. It's almost heartless to say that abortion is killing a baby and is never okay, no matter the circumstances. Heartless against a woman forced into making a terrible decision that is. I think and I gotta believe that most people think only the most strident zealots and celebrities and politicians, who are low-lifes anyway, are the only ones who make these soundbite arguments. And for goodness sakes, if you're in a field where you need to provide compassion, advice, confirmation or sympathy to someone facing this choice, don't lower yourself to soundbites. Listen.
So the zealots are going to get the headlines and try to drive the conversation. But I'm not buying it. I'm a thinking man. I know there are no easy answers and every situation is agonizing. I'm a Christian and believe in the sanctity of life and take the baptismal vow I spoke seriously when I said yes when asked..."Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?" For me, and maybe because I've got age and experience on my side, if at all possible I come down on the side of the small, defenseless human being growing inside of a woman. But that in no way means I won't respect and support the incredibly difficult choice that a woman must make in her life, in her time, and in her circumstances.
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