I have always taken a position that all life is holy, a gift from God. This doesn’t mean there are not times when I might want or need to make an exception, but that is the ethic that I would like to define my life. In light of that, I am not personally in favor of abortion as a method of birth control. I am also not in favor of making that choice for others. In fact, as a person who no longer needs to be concerned about pregnancy, it would be hypocritical for me to make these decisions for someone else.
I understand that states are passing the most restrictive abortion laws they can get away with in a race to see who will get to try to overturn Roe V. Wade in the Supreme Court. This is a nasty business, and I believe a race to the bottom. It is about power, and who has it, and who does not. And frankly, it isn’t going to work. One does not change a system by being a bully.
I offer a few anti-abortion proposals that have a reasonable chance of actually working:
- Take away the economic reasons for abortion by fully and generously funding our social service system. I am not the first to make the point that we care about a person before they are born but not willing as a country to give them much attention or support after they are born.
- Fully fund supportive services and costs for domestic adoptions. Adopting foster children or older children is complicated and these adoptions will not last without a great deal of support. Adoption is a reasonable choice for parents who don’t want to be parents. Let’s make it practical for anyone who has a heart for it.
- Triple the jail sentences for anyone who rapes a woman or sexually abuses a child. I hope that does not need justification.
- Finally, if there is to be punishment, it has to be for both people, men and women. In today’s world of genetic testing, paternity is not hard to establish. Any punishment a woman would be eligible for should absolutely and equally be given to the father of the child. Anything else is discrimination.
This is not an easy issue. People I love very much have had to make this decision, and my heart breaks for them, then and now. How we treat each other in these difficult decisions defines who we are. Let us be defined as people of compassion, creativity and support.