With new abortion legislation, America on the right track
There is no middle ground on abortion.
The pro-life and pro-choice camps are as likely to reach compromise as Games of Thrones’ Daenerys Targaryen and Cersei Lannister were likely to join forces in the Great War.
I have an opinion. I am pro-life. I’ve stood outside abortion clinics and prayed, and I will again. I’ve attended pro-life rallies. I’ve been a keynote speaker in Harrisburg. I’ve given lectures to pro-life medical students and high school seniors. And I’ve been very “in your face” about my politics, more of a John Brown storming the armory at Harpers Ferry than a Martin Luther King Jr. channeling the poetry of angels on the Mall.
You can imagine, then, my relief at recent developments.
Earlier this month, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed into law a so-called “heartbeat” bill, banning abortion as early as six weeks into pregnancy.
That’s in addition to the recent news in Philadelphia when State Representative Brian Sims posted videos on social media of his aggression toward pro-life protesters — an older white woman and three teenage girls — at a Planned Parenthood in Center City. This triggered one of the largest local pro-life rallies in recent history.
Plus, the Pennsylvania House recently passed the Down Syndrome Protection Act, a bill that bars abortions if the sole reason for having one stems from that diagnosis. A similar bill passed the House last session and languished in the Senate, where this version now heads. The original bill was opposed vehemently by Democrats, including State Representative Sara Innamorato, who tweeted that “#HB321 is an unconstitutional and unenforceable ban on abortions after a Down syndrome diagnosis. The bill is not supported by any disability rights organizations, medical providers, or support networks.”
Innamorato misses the point: Passing the bill is designed to test its constitutionality under Roe v. Wade. Of course, some in the pro-choice camp argue that Governor Wolf will veto the bill if it becomes law. But pro-lifers believe that it’s better to vote your conscience than to throw up your hands and say, “We wouldn’t have been successful so why bother?”
And that brings me to last Wednesday, when the Alabama legislature passed their own abortion ban, which makes no exception for rape or incest.
Alabama State Senator Clyde Chambliss, who sponsored the bill, characterized the legislation as a necessary government intervention to protect human rights.
“When God creates the miracle of life inside a woman’s womb, it is not our place as human beings to extinguish that life,” Chambliss said.
New York Times columnist Bari Weiss shot back, “Said the Republican about rape or incest.”
Clearly, there are a lot of nervous pro-choice people out there. They fear the unraveling of their favorite precedent, which is indeed hanging by a fragile constitutional thread. That’s not paranoia, by the way. Roe v. Wade is really in the crosshairs of the states passing these controversial laws.
So I’m here to dispense with the niceties of “can’t we all get along?”
No, we can’t. The fight for the right to life is a war. If you believe that abortion is murder, you will fight to end it. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t also fight equally hard to provide support for women who bring those precious lives to term.
The pro-life movement can’t just be “pro-birth.”
But the mandate of life is nonnegotiable, and I’m heartened to see that America is on the right track.
The viewpoints expressed above are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Independent.
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I am not nervous, I am angry. I am here for the living children. I support programs to protect children suffering from physical, emotional & sexual abuse (DOVE Center, Switchpoint, etc.). I support health care for all. All children must have access to vaccines for no cost if insurance is not available. I support quality education. I belong to two organizations that provide scholarships for college students. I provide food & toiletries for those in need. My church provides food boxes, warm clothing & food to Native Americans, many who live w/o running water, electricity & other things we take for granted. I have helped provide gifts to elderly women at Christmas. My list goes on & on, does yours?
Please provide comprehensive sex education including information on abstinence & contraceptives, STD’s, HPV in our schools. Even in 2019 most parents are still abdicating their responsibility in these areas.
Health care for females – Pap smears, other screenings, information, prenatal care, mammograms, etc. must be available.
If you work as hard to provide for children & mothers as you do fighting against abortions, society will be better off.
Government must provide for children born with disabilities. Most of these states attempting to restrict a woman’s ability to choose or obtain contraceptives do an abysmal job providing for the children once they are born.