"The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time; the hand of force may destroy but cannot disjoin them." (Thomas Jefferson - A Summary View of the Rights of British America - 1774)
While the current state of the presidential primaries has managed to conveniently cover the abortion issue, it remains the eight hundred pound gorilla in the room and once the general debates are underway it will come to the forefront whether we want it to or not. The reasons for this may be equally due to the extreme positions taken by both parties (mostly as a part of the general primary process) and actions by certain states, specifically by the legislation that Governor Spitzer is trying to get though the state legislature in Albany.
We need to have an honest debate on this issue, but in all honestly we will not get one through the presidential election system. While there is no clear agreement on the issue, the majority of people are clearly somewhere in-between the positions of both political parties. Most people who are "pro-life" do not simply want to "arrest doctors for murder" as President Clinton claimed to a heckler. Likewise there are number of people who are "pro-choice" but who agree that the best choice is not to be in a position to be forced to make a choice in the first place.
Personally, I am pro-life. I believe that life and liberty are fundamental rights given to us, not by the state, but by a higher authority and power, from the moment of conception. I find nothing magical or mysterious about birth; if a person does not have rights to life and liberty before birth he or she does not have rights to life or liberty after birth and likewise if a person has rights to life and liberty after birth he or she must have rights to life and liberty before birth. To simply deny all consideration of rights to the unborn is as disingenuous as those of Jefferson's time to deny all consideration of the rights of slaves by just calling them property.
The issue in essence comes down to an intersection between rights or perhaps a conflict between rights not in agreement. As with all conflicts the best solution is a compromise, and this is generally what the majority of Americans currently believe; not the extreme position of either party, but a reasonable and equitable solution.
As long as we continue to polarize the issue to the two extreme sides we will never come up with a proper solution. A Lincoln pointed out a hose divided cannot stand it will either fall one way or the other. With attempts to go beyond even the decision of Roe v Wade as can be seen in the Governor's legislation which will actually force religious institutions to perform abortions and lowers the bar as to the necessary qualifications needed to perform the medical procedure, as well as attempts by other states to constantly overturn the decision by passing laws that ban the practice entirely the true desires of the people may never be seen. We cannot be content if our candidate agrees with 75% of our position, because that 25% will constantly keep us in a state of division. We cannot permit the rhetoric of compromise while the actions of extreme separation on this issue.
As I mentioned abortion will probably become an issue because of New York. It probably is an issue because of New York. Statistics show that in 1996 the abortion rate in New York was 37 per one thousand women where the average for the nation was 20. (Unfortunately it is almost impossible to get good recent numbers.) In terms of issues this is more a regional problem than it is a national global issue. I apologize that the Emperor of New York will bring this issue to the national spotlight once again in the same manner he attempted to bring his unpopular idea to give illegal immigrants driver licenses.
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Comments: 7
and it will leak, too.
I do not fast during lent. I will not allow anyone to require me to starve on command. I personally cannot be granted the right to abortion. Men can't have babies, but I can, if I wish, have a perfectly healthy arm amputated. Keep in mind that the same "God" who is alleged to prohibit abortion said, in clear words, "If your eye offends you, pluck it out."
I think the fasting is not a proper analogy. How about this one? The state can and does tell you that you cannot smoke in public places where your second hand smoke could put others at risk.
Like I said this is a regional issue. To most of the country "separation of church and state" keeps the church from interfering with the state; here we need it to keep the state from interfering with the church. They continue to force the most extreeme position down our throats.
It's hard to get numbers for recent years but during the 1990's we have well over a million abortions in the United States every year. It has been estimated that since Roe v Wade we have had 48.5 million abortions! That's more than the number of civilian deaths due to WWII which is twice as much as the military deaths caused by WWII.
I have no problem with the courts ruling on either side of this issue, an infinite number of times if need be.
I do believe that some point in the near future, a very safe abortion pill will be available.
Let me show a case that came to light recently in New York. A baby was "abandoned" the child of a 14 year old mother and a twenty something year old father. (Notice that in New York we are talking about some serious crimes.) Had the child had an abortion, no one would have ever known or had been the wiser. The child was five months old. Had the child been 5 days old, the child could have been given in to a hospital or a fire house and again no questions would have been asked. But since the child was 5 months, the father is now in hiding with the law looking for him, the child (because 14 years is still a child in my books) is in child care and the infant is currently up for adoption.
But, as I said, had the child had an abortion, no one would have ever known or had been the wiser. Susan B. Anthony, were she alive, would probably shout "I told you so," and complain how abortion is a tool where men try to hide their guilt and shame by forcing more violence upon women. Remember had she had an abortion, he would be just as free to continue to molest and abuse that poor child and no one would have ever known or be the wiser.
It is sad that many so called "pro-choice" people have the same attitude towards choice as Henry Ford had towards his customers. You could have any color of Model T you wanted as long as the color you wanted was black. Likewise as long as we set up a series of laws where the only choice is to have an abortion in the first place there is no true choice to begin with.