Abortion Rights and Consumerism
– By Lisa Rutherford –
I know that at first glance this might be a strange mix of issues: abortion and consumerism. Please let me explain. As Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s draft opinion on the Roe vs Wade issue was lighting fires around the country and, in fact, around the world, I was reading a book by Thomas Friedman titled “Hot, Flat, and Crowded.” The issue and the book got me thinking about the connection between women being able to decide their and their fetuses’ fates and the future we face as citizens of this planet that by 2050 will have nine to ten billion people—two to three billion more than now.
Friedman’s book highlights many challenges we humans will face as this world tries to accommodate all these people. It would perhaps be an easier situation if the United States had not taught others around the developing world how to be consumers—and big consumers. This is where abortion and consumerism tie together.
Most who oppose abortion say they do so on ethical grounds. But let’s ponder what other considerations may come into play. Those who oppose abortion are generally Christian and many are Evangelical Christian; we know that. But we also need to consider that those same individuals are also generally conservative Republicans, and Republicans are big on business. Consumers are business’ bottom line: fewer consumers, less income. Now, granted, it may be a stretch to say that a reason pro‑lifers oppose abortion is because that will result in less consumers, but whether it’s acknowledged consciously by them or not, doesn’t matter, because it is the end result. Perhaps most conservative Republicans don’t think about it this way, but some at the higher levels of control politically and economically probably do. Let’s face it. Americans have been manipulated for decades by businesses that work to convince us to buy their goods and make billions at our expense.
So, you may yet be questioning my assertion on this, but just recently a Republican member of Congress stated that by allowing abortions there will less workers to fund Social Security and Medicare. And, he’s not the only one that has made an economic connection, and it should not rest on women to support the social safety net in this country or our economy. It cuts both ways. Those who support abortion rights assert that given the economic problems we are facing, more than ever women should be able to determine for themselves if they want to or can support a child. In fact, even if they can, they deserve to make that choice.
When women are forced to have unwanted babies that means that all those unwanted humans will require “stuff” and that means more money for businesses. Unfortunately, it also places greater burden on the resources which are already being stressed by the current seven billion people on the planet not to mention the future billions.
Again, let me state that whether those who oppose abortion admit that they are working to grow the ranks of consumers or not does not matter. Because, in the final analysis, that is exactly what they are doing.
Those babies who end up living in poverty will put stress on social services, while those who do not live in poverty will become new mega-American consumers and put even more stress on this world’s resources leading us down a path to destruction of this planet—our only home in this universe. Americans have set a “consumerism” standard that many in the world aspire to. If they consume as much as we do—more by far than any other people on the planet—and the rising middle classes around the world are moving that way, we will be in a world of hurt. It also takes energy to produce all these products adding to climate change.
With about half the states poised to make abortion illegal if Roe v Wade is overturned, the poorer women will be hurt the most since better-off women more likely can take time off to travel for an abortion but with the understanding that some places will prosecute them for that, too.
If some are going to deny women the right to choose whether to have a child or not thereby bringing more consumers into this world of consumers who are eating away at Earth’s resources, then the least pro-lifers can do is consume less themselves so that we all have a chance at enjoying a reasonable standard of living. This Earth can only stand so many American—or “American-like” consumers!
So, perhaps those who are in the pro-life ranks will start leading the way by reducing their own consumption to help balance the consumption of those yet-to-be-born individuals they fight so desperately to save. In fact, even without the abortion issue being front and center, we would all do well to reduce our consumption and help preserve this planet we call home. Americans have set a standard for the world when it comes to consumption, and many of the remaining seven billion people on this planet are working to emulate that standard. We need to set a new standard for them and ourselves to follow.
Other developed nations have been able to compromise on the abortion issue with laws that allow it early in pregnancy and under certain conditions, but many Americans seem to be some of the most hard-headed and hard-hearted people on the planet.
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