On January 22, 1973, in Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court determined the right to privacy includes the right to procure an abortion.
In the forty-eight years since, people of faith have been at the forefront of the fight against this ruling. Before science acknowledged that the fetus is distinct from the mother with its own DNA, people of faith argued for its humanity. They recognized that it was a human person and possesses the inherent dignity that all humans share as a result of being created in the image and likeness of God.
In 1973 I was a seventeen year old junior at a Catholic high school I remember how torn I was by the Supreme Court ruling. I understood that women wanted to be able to determine their own destiny as much as I understood that a baby is precious and beautiful and deserves to live. I understood the argument of the feminists that men could walk away from an unwanted pregnancy while a woman could not and how unfair that seemed.
Now, of course, I know how flawed the argument being made was, for it asserted that women could not be truly free in this society unless they had the same license as immoral men. At seventeen, however, it seemed only fair that a woman should be able to rid herself of the responsibility of pregnancy with the same ease as a man.
My life took several tragic turns over the next then years. Now, at the age of 65, I must accept the consequences of my choosing to end the life of not one but four of my children. Yes, I can argue with you that three of those choices were made under violent duress. I can even tell you that the one I did choose without enduring a black eye or bloody lip was done because I was an active alcoholic and drug addict and not in my right mind. Regardless of why, I am now a post-abortive woman who has been granted healing, relief, and her voice through the mercy found in her faith tradition. However, I have no living children. I have no grandchildren. I sit alone in the pew at Mass surrounded by people my age holding the results of bringing life to its proper fruition.
How do I feel, therefore, about the statement issued by the Biden-Harris Administration on January 22, 2021?
I feel sad.
I don't feel this sadness because a man who claims my faith tradition speaks in support of abortion. I am sad because he seems to cling to an outdated logic with a bone thrown in the direction of the real issue: supporting women and families in such a way as to snap in two the pervasion falsehood that a pregnancy unplanned is a pregnancy that will derail a woman's ability to achieve her dreams - in education, in the workplace, in society. The idea that abortion is a privacy issue fails to dispel the notion that biology is destiny and those poor females who "end up pregnant" might as well throw in the towel in terms of their lives.
The Biden-Harris Administration's statement proclaims its determination to codify Roe v. Wade. Think about that, people. Think carefully about what this Administration wants to do. In terms of how far we have come in the medical field, the 1973 ruling is as outdated as the Dred Scott decision. Is privacy between a doctor and patient important? YES. Is a doctor required to report a patient in danger, a patient under duress, a patient who may be in real trouble? YES.
Let's be clear: the current emphasis among abortion advocates does not center on privacy, but on choice. Talk to the average person on the street and ask them how they feel about abortion. They will always speak to a woman being allowed the choice to end the unborn child's life.
However, ask that same person if there should be restrictions on that choice and the waters become muddy. Most Americans today, are uncomfortable with the idea of a child minutes, days, weeks or even months away from being born should have that life ended simply as a matter of choice.
People put caveats on that choice. Almost to a person they will state that abortion in the case of rape or incest is okay. They are surprised when they learn that the choice to end a child's life for those two reasons amount to a miniscule number - some say less than 1% - and are dumfounded when confronted with other possible "reasons" for that choice to be made.
We now have test to determine the sex and physical health of the unborn child. If we as a society are okay with a parent killing their child because that child may have special needs, then are we okay with a parent killing their child because it is not the "right sex? If a genetic test determines that a child may someday develop cancer, will we consider that a sufficient reason to choose to kill the child? How about if they find out there is a possibility the child may be homosexual? How about the "wrong" color or race? How far are we willing to go to accept the "private choice" to end a child's life?
Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris pledge in their statement to "work to eliminate maternal and infant health disparities, increase access to contraception, and support families economically so that all parents can raise their families with dignity".
They do not define the word "dignity". I want them to do so.
I also want to know what they will do to ensure that every woman or girl who shows up to get an abortion is there of their own free will. I want the fourteen year old being driven to the clinic by her twenty-six year old "boyfriends" protected. I want the staff at the clinic to be required to act if they see someone there for the second or third time with visible bruises and dead eyes. I want them to be required to report to law enforcement what could be a 'choice' made under duress.
I also challenge the Biden-Harris Administration to get specific when they speak of a rededication to ensuring all people have access to health care. Will they require clinics to be held to a high standard of cleanliness and proper procedures? Will they be committed to these clinics if access to prenatal care is offered rather than, or alongside, abortions? Will this Administration look at people having access to food, shelter and good jobs as a integral part of adequate health care?
The American Solidarity Party does not support abortion; however, we are more than simply another group with an anti-abortion platform.
We consist of people who would like to see abortion eliminated and want the government to start by providing every woman faced with an unwanted pregnancy with the real, practical, and consistent support she needs in order to protect the life of the child she carries in her womb. We want to take the fear of pregnancy off the table.
If a female understands that any reason she might have to end the life of her child has an alternative solution, she then truly has a choice. If she thinks she cannot complete her education, find a place to live, have access to suitable and safe child care, win that trophy or award, get that job or otherwise reach her dreams if she gives birth, she is not making a free choice. Rather, she is acting out of fear.
If a woman or girl knows that she can look her clinician in the eye and say, "I don't want this to happen but I need help to escape" she has a greater likelihood of asking for that help.
Scientific advances have made it possible for children in the womb to receive medical care that would given them a healthy start as a newborn. Is this the type of health care proposed and championed by the Biden-Harris Administration?
I will leave the arguing of the legal viability of the Roe v. Wade decision to those better qualified, but I will argue that many of the emotional, frothy appeals once made by the feminists of the 1970s should now fall flat. Women are not so weak and helpless as to be denied success simply because they give birth. To imply otherwise is insulting. If we are, as often screamed in our faces by the ranks of popular culture, "warriors" able to take on anything and everything life has to offer (or throw at us) then lets apply that mindset to unwanted pregnancy too. We have to be assured that having a child does not takes us out of the game. We can still play because, well, the rules of the game will support us.
BUT - if the issue is only a matter of privacy and choice? Given the advancements in science, we must be willing to brace ourselves for that future.
As a society, we had better be okay with some horrible reasons given to end the life of a child.
And the Biden-Harris Administration had better be okay with it too.
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