About Abortion

The never ending controversy over abortion is really two distinct arguments. One is over the artificial termination of a pregnancy, right or wrong. I emphasize “artificial” since the natural termination of human pregnancies exceeds the other by considerable numbers, and you can debate what plan, divine or otherwise, is in charge of that. But that would be a third discussion which I won’t address here. 

The second argument is whether a woman should have the choice to end her pregnancy, without questioning notions regarding ethics. It doesn’t presume judgment regarding a pregnant woman’s opinion regarding abortion, right or wrong, should she choose to end her pregnancy. Certainly it is reasonable to conclude that women, perhaps no women, ever get pregnant simply because they’re anxious to get an abortion. 

These two positions make the entire question regarding legality almost intractable. That’s because neither side seeks to enjoin the opposing argument with their own. Add to that the politicization of the issue, where abortion is used as a tool by those who are not burdened by ethics, but by elections. The old gag that says: a married politician opposes “choice” for abortion until his girlfriend gets pregnant, retains humor because of its basis in truth. 

The issue of abortion is not new. In fact, abortion has been part of the human condition since ancient times, probably since humans first understood the rudimentary nature of procreation. However, politicization of abortion, where opinion or even discussion on the subject is hard wired into political camps (Conservative or Progressive) is new. On a timeline of recorded human history it is brandy-new. 

There was a time, not long ago, where a person could support choice and oppose abortion at the same time, regardless of their political affiliation. However, it appears that train has left the station…empty. 

The history of abortion is long and varied. Although interesting, it doesn’t add much to the present day controversy. The simple takeaways are that abortions, even with their adverse effects on women’s health, have never been forcibly ended, and that attempts to restrict or outlaw abortions had little to do with ethics, even when spearheaded by churches. A notable reality to those attempts was that their instigation was by men, primarily for economic reasons, in their control and veritable ownership of women. The primary restriction to abortion historically was science, or rather the lack of it. 

The hullabaloo about the Supreme Court is so steeped in foolishness that it is nothing short of embarrassing. Now with the prayed for “Conservative” majority on the bench, those that envision the outlaw of abortion are elated, as much as those that support choice are apoplectic. Neither should be. The Supreme Court is not outlawing abortion, they’re simply elevating the “choice” for abortion from the individual to the collective. It’s actually an oxymoron to traditional Conservatism. The net result will only be that poor women in certain states will find themselves either restricted or have major difficulty in obtaining an abortion. They will become the coat hanger women. Wealthy or middleclass women in those states will essentially have no restrictions, just greater inconvenience and cost. Not much will change regardless of the hoopla and high fives. 

For Samuel Alito to write for the “Conservative” majority that there is nothing in the US Constitution that protects the right to have an abortion is such a contrived position that “Roe” under another name will undoubtedly return. That human behavior in the United States which only involves the individual can be outlawed because it is not specifically provided for in the Constitution is absurd. 

But that’s the rub…isn’t it? Is abortion the act of a single individual? Is a woman and a fetus a single entity or not? If a woman is hurt in a negligent car crash, whether it’s her fault or not, and loses an embryo, or even a zygote, is it a homicide? A forward thinking Conservative God might well have designed the human female to lay eggs, to be carefully nurtured to maturity, probably by white men. 

A reality for Progressives is that there comes a point where the cause to protect the life inside a woman become righteous, in a secular sense. Instead of embracing an intractable position that didn’t allow for validating those that find abortion ethically wrong, they could have actively advocated common ground.  But like Conservative “purists” who have come to support the banning of pregnancy termination right up to conception, they are simply steeped in the politics. It’s all wrapped up with guns, immigration, healthcare, voting rights, and you name it. 

We were actually pretty much there. Abortion was available as a choice for all women, not just the wealthy, but restricted to pre-viability. Science and healthcare became the determining factors for viability and something that reasonable men and women could agree to.  But then in the latter half of the 20^th Century, Republicans picked up abortion as an issue to garner support from Christian Conservatives, and the fight was on. 

What a waste.