A Sad and Terrible Thing

In my previous post, I spoke to the topic of why Donald Trump is President. Specifically the role of the Supreme Court in  driving the so-called evangelical voters to support a loud mouth, dim witted pussy grabber.

The biggest issue that has driven evangelical voters since the 1970s is getting the Supreme Court ruling of Roe Vs. Wade overturned. Roe Vs.Wade ruled that women have a right to seek an abortion.  They saw in Li’l Donnie Trump someone who would capitulate to appointing conservative judges up and down the judicial branch and especially to the Supreme Court.  So this is why These so-called evangelical voters supported a man who as a candidate and as president conduct himself in a most un-Christ like way. 

 

So far, the investment  is paying off with Trump’s 2^nd nomination to the Supreme Court. 

Today, I thought I would turn this post over from the political to the personal.

 

What are my views on this issue?

 

I am against abortion. What I understand about the conception of life, I find the termination of a pregnancy to be a sad and terrible thing.

 

But that being said, I also support a women’s right to have control over her life, her health and her body.

 

Let’s go back about 35 years or so when I was in college and I was witness to an argument between 2 people about the subject of abortion.

 

Both people held the same view about abortion: it is bad. But the crux of the disagreement was this:

 

Person One believed a woman should be able to have an abortion if the life of the mother was in danger.

Person Two believed no woman should be able to have an abortion for any reason, even if the life of the mother was in danger. 

 

I should point out that Person One was a woman; Person Two was a man.  

 

Yes, the man who was never, ever going to be pregnant was of the mindset that the women who could get pregnant should stay pregnant, even if it kills them. 

 

My young college aged mind was just barely navigating the legal and philosophical land mines of this discussion but one thing was clear to me: who was this guy deciding for women who should live or who should die?

 

Note what I said above: “I find the termination of a pregnancy to be a sad and terrible thing.” Notice I did not say it’s a bad thing because there are just too many variables that as I man, I cannot begin to fathom. 

 

Let’s take for example 2 women; let’s call them Laverne and Shirley. Both have become very recently pregnant and both have been given assessments of what pregnancy means to their health.

 

Laverne is told that if she goes forward with this pregnancy, there is an 80% chance she will die.

 

Shirley is told that her pregnancy puts her life at risk as well with a 60% chance she will die.

 

If you’re the guy from that college era debate, they’re both screwed. Roll the dice and take your chances.

 

If you’re the woman from that same debate, they should have some kind of say in if they live or die.

 

Let’s muddy up the waters a bit.

 

Laverne with the greater risk of dying decides it’s worth the risk. She’s always wanted to have a baby and it’s a desire so strong, she’s willing to take any risk.

 

Shirley has a lesser risk of dying but she’s not prepared to take it. She already has three children who are still very young and still need their mother.  She too believes that “the termination of a pregnancy to be a sad and terrible thing.” It breaks her heart to think about having an abortion but it shatters her completely to think she could die and leave her kids alone without a mother. 

 

Yes, the termination of a pregnancy is a sad and terrible thing. But it is a personal thing and politicians, lawyers and judges have no place in this equation. This is between a woman, her doctor and her god.

 

I do know there are women who use access to abortion as an alternative to birth control. But I think efforts by the law to stop these women at the expense of those for whom the termination of a pregnancy to be a sad and terrible thing is wrong.

 

The problem is that the political discourse on the subject of abortion is guided by those with an absolutist judgement: termination of a pregnancy is a bad and evil thing. Thus their zeal to overturn Roe Vs. Wade.  

 

The thing that really irks me is that the same political element seeking to eradicate a woman’s right to an abortion is usually the same element that seeks to stop sex education efforts that would reduce risky or unwanted pregnancies.  These same people vote against health benefits to provide women with coverage for or access to birth control or health care. These same people seek to roll back the social safety net that would help women who choose to keep their children.  The same people who rant and scream about the rights of the unborn are the same people who look to cut the budgets of health and food programs that help those same children after they are born. 

 

And another thing: overturning Rose Vs. Wade will not stop abortions. The rich will always find a way to make an inconvenient fetus go away. The poor will turn to the back alleys as they did before. Or carry to term children that will be the death of them.

 

Overturning Rose Vs. Wade is not about a Right To Life. If it was truly about a Right To Life, those who oppose the ruling of Rose Vs. Wade would work just as hard to preserve life after it is born.

 

Overturning Rose Vs. Wade is about the subjugation of women which benefits the old white men who seek to cling to power.   

 

The termination of a pregnancy is a sad and terrible thing. Women should have the right to face that decision in private and with dignity. It is their bodies, their lives. 

The end of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is also a sad and terrible thing.