Anti-Choice's Slippery Slope, (published 12/22/05)

With George Bush’s nomination to yet another Supreme Court seat the abortion debate is again on everyone’s mind. The closest thing to a judicial litmus test, Democrats fear too conservative a Justice will strip away the rights women have fought so hard to obtain.

The dirty little secret that no Republican candidate will voice is that they fear it too. Behind closed doors, and away from their conservative base, Republicans freely admit conservative anti-choice rulings by the Supreme Court would galvanize the Democratic Party like never before.

Spurred into action, Democrats would take back Congress and the Whitehouse, pushing forward a pro-choice amendment to the Constitution which would end judiciary decision making, and remove the Republicans’ greatest political wedge issue. Much like major drug companies who would rather treat ailments than lose their income stream by curing them, Republican’s realize they need the abortion issue to feed their polarizing, demagogic campaigns.

Even neo-conservative vermin like Newt Gingrich and Karl Rove admit that nothing would unite the factors of the Democratic Party faster than an over zealous conservative court. Polls consistently show American voters are in favor of a woman’s choice. In fact less than 20% of Americans are in favor of banning all abortions.

Although the vast majority of Americans oppose a theocratic desire to strip away the rights of women, the fanatical minority is dogmatic. They maintain that abortion is infanticide.

It matters not that throughout history every major culture and religion has distinguished between a fetus and a baby. There is no negative reference to abortion in the Bible, though clearly it was a practice of the time. The Talmud specifically differentiates between the loss of a child and a miscarriage. Surprisingly the entire controversy regarding abortion is a relatively recent phenomenon, less than 150 years old.

Rather than frame their argument intellectually, sighting historical facts and legal precedent, Conservatives choose voodoo biology. They defend their anti-choice position by arbitrarily claiming life begins at conception. As usual their defense causes more problems than it remedies.

It is estimated American women annually suffer 800,000, spontaneous abortions, better known as miscarriages. This number is much larger if you include terminations experienced before women even know they are pregnant. While this is both a personal tragedy and a tremendous loss are we know to consider it a death? Will a medical examiner be brought in to an already emotional scene and conduct an investigation? Does each miscarriage now require a death certificate and funeral?
Many couples try repeatedly for children, suffering through multiple miscarriages. If doctors determine future pregnancies to be at higher than normal risks are the parents killing babies in an attempt to achieve a successful birth?

What are the new liabilities for clinicians? With In Vitro pregnancies multiple eggs are fertilized outside the body and then implanted with the hopes of one or two surviving, is the anticipated termination of the fertilized eggs that don’t survive now to be considered premeditated murder? What about the eggs that are fertilized ever so briefly before expiring, is this now another case for the local police?

Will bartenders and sales clerks suffer the same penalties for unknowingly selling cigarettes and alcohol to pregnant women that they now suffer when selling to minors? Will women need to carry a “non-pregnant” I.D.?

Our Social Service Sector of government is woefully over burdened trying to protect children that are actually at risk, are they now in charge of the unborn too? Will people be dropping a dime if they know of a pregnant woman drinking, smoking, or eating red meat? Are pregnant women to be locked up and monitored in the interest of fetus rights?

Some experts claim stress is a leading cause of miscarriages. Will pregnant woman now be forced to leave the work force? If they chose not to are they civilly or criminally liable?

Remember how excited Attorney General Ashcroft was after 9/11, with his TIPs program. He wanted to recruit postal workers, deliverymen, bus drivers, etc., to spy on US citizens in hopes of thwarting terrorism. I believe he would be as giddy as a school girl over the prospect of pregnancy police.

As soon as it is determined that fetuses are human beings with human rights you know lawyers will get involved. If there is a way to exploit this for money our legal system will find it. Suddenly there will be a phalanx of advocates for the unborn, filing law suits for all kinds of reasons. Instead of chasing ambulances they will now be chasing EPT kits.

You may think this is silly, but we live in a society where attorneys sue fast food restaurants for serving coffee that’s too hot and win six figure settlements.

Conservatives will say my concerns are unrealistic and baseless. The simple solution, they say, is to apply their definition of life only to abortion. It is their fascination with simplicity I find the most unnerving. Simple solutions led Conservatives to invade a country with no exit strategy, to advocate for Social Security privatization, and to cut taxes while compounding horrific deficits.

Any change of a societal paradigm requires deep thought with particular concern about current and future consequences. We must think beyond ourselves, unfortunately Conservatives are challenged to think beyond lunch.