-- Abortion - A Wedge Issue

Abortion has been a wedge issue used by the Republicans ever since Roe v. Wade back in the 70s. This issue is not new, but it is something that should have been settled long before now. It's long past time for us as a nation to put this issue to rest and get on with the more important items that need to be addressed.

In order to properly address this issue, it is first necessary to understand that for too many years there has been too much spin put on it. The issue stopped being intelligently discussed a long time ago, and in order to put it to rest, it is first necessary to reduce it to what it is, and remove everything else. The first thing that needs to be removed is the emotional angle that both sides have put on it. Second, we need to logically look at the issue, and finally put it to rest.

When you hear someone refer to Democrats as "baby killers" or show you signs of a fetus in the womb, your emotions are being manipulated. Don't allow this. If you hear someone speaking out against (or for) abortion (or any issue, for that matter), and they begin raising their voice or calling those who hold an opposing opinion by unfavorable names, ignore them. If their argument is sound they don't need to resort to yelling or name-calling. Those are tactics that are only necessary when the argument isn't solid enough to carry itself.

Next, we need to logically look at what the objective of abortion should be. There shouldn't be any argument that the goal of abortions in this country should be zero. For that matter, the number of children who die each year from disease, or people who die from drug overdoses, or people who die from automobile accidents should all be zero. That's not reality, however. In life comes death and there will always be people dying. Sadly, that also at times applies to children.

The issue of abortion was made a legal matter when the Supreme Court made the decision that it should not be illegal. This decision was correct. By making abortion legal it now becomes possible to regulate those who perform them. This does not mean that every pregnant woman should run out and have an abortion, and that has certainly not happened, but that is how the anti-abortionists act.

The goal should not be to outlaw abortion, as that will not end abortion. Outlawing it only sends it underground, and won't do anything to reduce the number of abortions performed each year. Look at drug use; it's illegal to use drugs in this country, but it still happens. The same can be said for speeding, cheating on taxes and jay-walking. All of these are illegal, and all happen daily.

In order to solve this problem we first need to end the emotional ties and look at it intellectually. First, who has abortions? Women. No man has ever had an abortion, yet one of the most vocal voices against abortions is the Roman Catholic Church, an organization comprised of men, run by men, who only allow men in their priesthood. That seems like a strange dichotomy to me. If women are the ones who have abortions, it should be women who make the final decision on this issue, not men.

That having been said, and even though I'm a man, I'm going to continue with my opinion anyway. Following on the same intellectual discussion, do all women have abortions? No, only pregnant women do. All pregnant women? No, only certain ones. The issue then should be to look at who are these women and what are the circumstances surrounding their pregnancies.

First, there are those who were raped or are the victims of incest. Does anyone have the right to tell these women that they must give birth to the child of the man who raped them? I don't see how anyone can force that upon any woman. Yes, she would be able to put the child up for adoption, but that still forces her to grow a child inside her that was formed through violence against her. I can't see that anyone has the right to force that upon her. She certainly has the right to decide to have the child, and the right to put it up for adoption or not, but no one has the right to force her.

Second are those who find that either the life of the child or the life of the mother is in danger. That decision rests solely with the pregnant woman. Again, no one has the right to tell her that she has to give birth when it could kill her, or to give birth to a child who will only die anyway. It's very easy to sit back and say that it's God's will that the child dies, but it's not a fair argument because a) it can't be proven, and b) it is inhumane to force a mother to watch her child die. Again, this decision has to rest with the woman.

Last are the women who never wanted to get pregnant, and I would guess that this is the vast majority of women having abortions. This is also the easiest group to address because it only requires education to end this. Education would include sex education, so that women (and men) understand what can be done to ensure that pregnancy does not occur, and providing birth control. By ensuring that people know how to prevent pregnancy, you eliminate the majority of abortions, because non-pregnant women don't have a need for them.

Now the argument becomes that people should not have sex if they're not re-producing, and that argument is seriously flawed. There is nothing wrong with having sex, and no one in this country has the right to regulate morality. If you believe that sex out of wedlock is immoral, don't have sex out of wedlock, but don't tell anyone else that they can't. No one has the right to tell you what to do with your body. This, of course, goes for adults. Parents certainly have the right to raise their children with their own religious and moral beliefs, but once those children reach adulthood, they have to start making their own decisions.

By teaching sex education to young adults, and providing birth control to all adults (male and female, it's not only up to the women) we could reduce the vast majority of abortions in this country. This is what the goal of the anti-abortionists should be; to reduce all of the abortions possible, not to make them all illegal. For that matter, we should also be working harder to end rape in this country, but that doesn't seem to be an issue. We're more interested in punishing men after they commit the act rather than identifying possible rapists and curing them before the act. We're interested in stopping women from having abortions of unwanted babies rather than helping them to prevent the pregnancy in the first place. We are more concerned with reacting to a problem once it happens rather than preventing the problem from occuring in the first place.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.