Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Bill Alstrom (MA/Maine/MA)'s avatar

Thanks for posting this, Bob.

This is a thoughtful and sensible way to look at "unwanted" pregnancy. Nobody wants to kill fetuses. We are ALL "pro-life". But terminating pregnancies when there are no other reasonable choices has been a human tradition since we dropped out of the trees. Every culture has done it.

I have two thoughts beyond the inevitability of abortion being part of human life as long as we exist on the planet - legally or not. Privately or publicly. It will always exist. Prohibition doesn't work.

First, your points about education and contraception should be at the center of the discussion - not the imposition of someone's religious beliefs - which may be viewed by a majority of us as primitive, superstitious and just another chapter in the sexism and male domination scenario we can't seem to shed. Feel free to follow whatever faith you like. But leave it at home.

Second, abortion for many politicians is just like immigration. Why address solving the need when it is just a terrific political football? Want to get a cheer out of an audience? Demonize "baby killers". And demonize "others who are coming to take away our jobs". It's all emotional nonsense. But it stirs up a crowd very effectively.

The number of abortions in America could be reduced to almost nothing with an effective strategy of making contraception a grade school concept and by handing out the newly available over the counter contraceptives to every young girl capable of reproduction. Teach and help.

But what bible thumping demonizer of "libtards" would want to really solve the problem? They need the ammunition to feed their howitzers of hate.

Expand full comment
Dave Conant - MO's avatar

You two have pretty much said it all. Clear and consistent terminology is essential to reasonable conversation and the perversion of the terms "Pro life" and "Pro choice", along with Bill's point about the political value of a continuing failure to resolve the issue is why we still have this problem.

Expand full comment
4 more comments...

No posts