Is Abortion Necessary in 2018?
As Anthony Kennedy leaves his seat on SCOTUS, the abortion debate rages anew (actually, it never stops) but as it does, I have two questions that I believe need to be discussed and it is these:
Has abortion been a net positive or a net negative for women?
Is abortion necessary in 2018?
The “pro” arguments seem to revolve around these propositions (got these from the BBC “ethics guide” but they mirror most arguments):
Women have a moral right to decide what to do with their bodies
The right to abortion is vital for gender equality
The right to abortion is vital for individual women to achieve their full potential
Banning abortion puts women at risk by forcing them to use illegal abortionists
The right to abortion should be part of a portfolio of pregnancy rights that enables women to make a truly free choice whether to end a pregnancy
I’m going to add one that most pro-abortion people won’t:
6. It is used for elective birth control
I guess I think about the second question before I consider the first.
I should note that I understand there are cases of medical necessity, or as a response to incest or rape – but Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973, 45 years ago. Attitudes toward sex, marriage and contraception have changed substantially in that near-half century, contraception has become more commonplace, and has come out from behind the counter at the local drug store and onto display racks at your local Wal-Mart. Many forms are available without prescription. OTC (over the counter) options include spermicides, condoms, and levonorgestrel emergency contraception (Plan B). You still must have a prescription from a doctor to purchase “the pill” but the cost is negligible – around $10 a month at a Wal-Mart pharmacy – or even free if you have private health insurance, qualify for Medicaid or other state programs.
So, for a moment, let’s set aside the argument whether a fetus is a human being or a clump of cells and focus on #2 thru #5 of the first set of “pros”.
If I substitute the word “contraception” for “abortion”, every single one of those “reasons” are rendered null and void and as to #1, doesn’t using a contraceptive qualify as a “woman’s right to decide”?
In my opinion, the easy availability of contraceptives renders all the arguments for abortion moot. If the pro-abortion crowd is honest, abortion has become an elective form of contraception if none of the others are chosen or fail (which the occurrence is an infinitesimally small number – far less than the number of abortions performed by Planned Parenthood alone).
And there is the old stand-by that works every time it is tried – abstinence from sex.
I’m no prude and don’t really care what anyone does on their own dime, I just don’t think any orgasm is so great that should cost a child their life.
All things considered, one must question if abortion is really necessary in 2018.
As to whether abortion has been a net positive for women, I think that abortion is the sacrament of feminism and contemporary feminism seeks to replace males with females. To do so, feminists seek to prove women are equal to men in every aspect – which is simply not true. In some cases, women are better than men, in others, worse – it is the same for men. The point is that men and women are unique and special in independent ways – and as women are pressured to replace men, they are losing their uniqueness and their special role in society. It’s not that women can’t do and achieve the same things men can, it is that women can do the one thing society must have – gestate and give birth to another generation of humans. There is no more important role for a civilization than motherhood.
I’m sorry if that sounds provincial or patriarchal, but that is simply a biological fact. Without mothers, civilizations collapse.
So, as you can tell, I think abortion has been a net negative for women.
I am against abortion because I do not believe a fetus is a “clump of cells”. I believe a “spark of Divinity” is transmitted at the moment of conception (Nancy Pelosi believes this about MS-13 members, why not babies?), so I believe abortion ends a human life – but I also believe that the arguments made in favor of abortion in 2018 are antiquated and rendered moot by the easy availability of methods to prevent an unwanted pregnancy in the first place.