Ok, let's talk about abortion. Put down the gun and pitchfork, let's just talk. Here's some facts: Abortion peaked in 1990 with 1.6 million abortions legally performed. In 2019 (the latest year complete data is available) the number was between 630,000 and 890,000, depending upon who you ask- the CDC or the Guttmaker Institute. Either way, the number is down 50%. The raw number is down, even as the population continues to increase. To me, that shows the effectiveness of sex education, the availability of contraceptives, and the involvement of both partners. That's all good news.
The bad news, in my opinion, is all of this talk about "right to life" and "protecting unborn children" that comes from the mouths of Republican politicians is so much bull byproduct as to make one puke. The Republicans are no more interested in right to life than they can fly; if you want evidence look at all the attempts to destroy the Affordable Care Act. You are likely to suffer greatly from the lack of medication or die a from easily preventable disease if you don't have insurance. Review the Republican efforts to keep the minimum wage artificially low; if you can't afford to buy food and pay the rent, well, that's too bad for you. If you are a veteran of the U.S. Armed Services (thank you for your service), only 1 Republican Senator (Marco Rubio-FL) has your back-all the rest are against the Honoring Our PACT Act, relative to the damage caused by burn pits. Right to life, indeed. One plan discussed by Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) would cut benefits to Social Security by 1/3, raise the eligibility age, and threaten Social Security with defunding every five years. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) fearing the wrath of Senior Citizen Voters, took that page out of the bill.
Right To Life?
I'll skip the fine print and go right to the heart of the matter: in 2022, there have been 218 mass shootings, with a sad total of 221 dead and 831 wounded but survived. This data covers January 1, 2022 to May 29, 2022, and include the shooter if wounded or killed. Congress moans, prays, and sends condolences; but nothing of value happens. Congress could act, but no, this is not abortion we are talking about here. It's only 221 living people -you know, the ones already born- dead because Congress won't do it's part.
My point? Abortion is not a right to life matter for the hypocritical morons in Congress; it is much more important than that. It is a control issue; the mostly white, mostly male congress demands to control what a woman does, or does not do, with her own body. Please don't bother to mention religion in reference to this issue, the 1st Amendment to the Constitution takes that off the table. Don't try to tell me that a woman cannot be responsible for her own choices; women are no more or less responsible actors that males.
No, it is a control issue; and as long as the voters elect these same sad Republican congressmen hypocrites, they will continue to demand control over a woman's body, and the right to make her own choices. Now that Roe vs Wade is in danger of being overturned, the choice of our Congressmen will become more important than ever.
Personally, I don't want Congressmen hypocrites making decisions for my wife, children, and grandchildren. They are smart enough to make their own decisions.
Thank you for reading; as always, your comments, thoughts and opinions are welcome. Please click on the pencil below to make a comment.
R.M. "Bob" Hartman
I totally agree with your post. You are so right about the so-called Pro-Life Republicans. They care about nothing but power and control. However I must comment on the pro-life movement. I have always said I will join the Pro-Life movement when the pro-lifers care as much about a baby after they are born as they do about a fetus. Now I'm going to show my age ----- When I was in college I worked at the blood bank at a University Medical Center in the Midwest. This was 5 years before abortion was legal. Everyday we would receive the surgical schedule as we were required to set up at least one unit of blood for every surgical patient. I cannot tell you how many D&C's were scheduled for young women between 15 - early 20's. There are very few reasons that women that young would ever need to have a procedure like that. When I questioned my supervisor about this I was told that most of the procedures were likely clandestine abortions! The blood bank was located right across the hall from the E.R. and I know of several times of women coming in who had been to a "back alley abortionist" or had attempted to abort themselves.
ReplyDeleteOutlawing abortion isn't going to stop it - Women with money will always be able to obtain them. People with few resources will return to the back alleys.