Society and Abortion

A pregnant woman, about to give birth, is told, "caesarian sections are illegal." A Christian Scientist healer is told he can no longer accept "patients." Sounds somehow unfair and perhaps even an invasion of privacy? So, to some, is the idea of the government making laws concerning the right of a woman to choose to end a pregnancy (for whatever reason). For a political party, the GOP, who runs on the platform of less government is better for Americans, the intrusion of the government in the matter of abortions is difficult to understand, until one realizes that the Republicans who control all three branches of our government are really fostered by the Evangelical right-wing Christians who bring religion into the private lives of all Americans, like it or not. Perhaps not since the vituperative Civil Rights movement in the 1950s and '60s, when ideology turned ugly and caused deaths and injury, has any subject been as vehemently argued as the issue of Abortion. Former Surgeon-General, J. Everett Koop stated: "Nothing like this has separated our society since slavery" (Kerl 1)

However, society's point of view about the illegality and immorality of abortion is changing, slowly but surely. While the Journal of the American Medical Association boasts that, since 1990, the year in which abortions were the highest, the annual number of abortions in the U.S. has decreased by 15%, organizations such as NOW (National Organization for Women) claims that the reduction is due to the fact that 84 percent of counties in the U.S. do not have an abortion provider. 25 years after Roe vs. Wade, attitudes of the public are changing- not that there is no longer controversy about a woman's right to choose, but even conservatives are increasingly believing in that right of choice. Even though none of the seven justices who participated in Roe vs. Wade are now alive, a look at some recent decisions indicates that the pendulum may be swinging in favor of the pro-abortion advocates. A federal judge in Columbia, SC struck down South Carolina's 1996 abortion clinic regulations, calling them "an unconstitutional infringement on a woman's right to an abortion" (Strope 1). And within the last several weeks, a court awarded $107 million to be paid by an Internet web link which listed the names, addresses, and usual routes to work of abortion doctors throughout this country, and was seen as a rallying point for the anti-abortion radicals who have already caused more than 2,500 bombings, arsons, blockades, and episodes of vandalism in the last twenty years. There is a bright spot for the future: While the polarization continues among both religious and political lines, various polls taken over the past years show that more people now tend to agree that a woman should have the right to choose an abortion. However, those with higher education tend to be more in favor than those of lower education. Conservative Christians seem to have the power to force the possibility of making abortions illegal. And, if that happens "women, once again, will be required to risk their lives in a desperate attempt to limit their family size. Family size will be dictated by a church-dominated-government (and) Abortions will continue, only now they will be illegal and thus more costly, more dangerous, and more difficult to obtain" (Anon 1).

The real threat to society that many now see is that the government controls a woman's body. And, if that happens, what's next? Registry for males buying condoms, or women asking for birth control medication? Thanks to the Patriot Act, Big Brother can see whom we're e-mailing and IM-ing on the Internet and see what books we take out of the local libraries. Society in a democracy should not have its private lives interrupted, challenged, or declared "illegal" just because a vocal minority of "born-again" conservative Christians emphasizes its points of view in the voting booth and political funding. Making abortions is only one small step to undermine the idea that we are a Land of the Free. We should all take notice of the state of South Dakota: "South Dakota just took a huge step backwards. The state's new criminal abortion bill is patterned on laws first passed in the 1860s and 1870s -- laws that produced a public health disaster" (Reagan 1).. Other states seem ready to do the same thing. What's next?

WORKS CITED:

Kerl, Michael: "Moral Debates of Our Times" accessed via'

Ethics.acusd.edu/abortion.html

Reagan, Leslie: "Criminalizing abortion will have disastrous consequences" March 1, 2006 www.progressive.org/media_mpreagan030106

Strope, Leslie: "Judge Favors S.C. Abortion Clinics", Associated Press, Feb. 5, 1999

No author listed: "Abortion Legal, Abortion Illegal: A chilling Choice" www.pro-truth.net/49-if-abortion-was-illegal.html