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I heard the novel argument this past weekend that the whole debate about abortion (especially re: the Roe reversal and the state legal clamping downs that followed) is an overblown issue that is unfairly used as a rallying cry by the democrats since it only affects a small minority of the population. I was surprised by the flipping of the narrative but not surprised. Quick thoughts:
* It is easy to say that it only affects a small minority, thus inconsequential from a big picture POV. Given that roughly one million abortions were performed in 2013 in US, the lack of legalized abortion will ruin countless mother and child lives (e.g. Romania has countless of stories from the 80s and buttloads of orphans to prove it, and one of my own aunts died before she turned 30 due to a botched illegal abortion). And whatever portion of that one million abortions that will be suppressed post-2013 is just the yearly installment on a mortgage on America’s future that will compound interest over many generations and that will take a very long time to pay off (if ever).
* Restricting abortion is a step back towards a toxic oppressive patriarchal society of yesteryear that is buttressed by moral arguments drawn from (un)holy books (written and interpreted by men), as it turns women into second-class citizens that are at the mercy of the state (usually led by mostly men, especially when abortion is not available even for rape, incest, life-threatening fetal malformation or even when mother's physical or mental health is in danger, by forcing a pregnant woman to carry to term). Sadly, today's abortion restriction laws are often more draconian than laws (or customs) from many centuries ago when there was at least an acknowledgement around the viability of the fetus around the quickening (regardless how crude, still wrong or fuzzy that concept is).
Overall, I found the argument regressive, ultra-conservative, tendentious and even a smidgen callous.
* It is easy to say that it only affects a small minority, thus inconsequential from a big picture POV. Given that roughly one million abortions were performed in 2013 in US, the lack of legalized abortion will ruin countless mother and child lives (e.g. Romania has countless of stories from the 80s and buttloads of orphans to prove it, and one of my own aunts died before she turned 30 due to a botched illegal abortion). And whatever portion of that one million abortions that will be suppressed post-2013 is just the yearly installment on a mortgage on America’s future that will compound interest over many generations and that will take a very long time to pay off (if ever).
* Restricting abortion is a step back towards a toxic oppressive patriarchal society of yesteryear that is buttressed by moral arguments drawn from (un)holy books (written and interpreted by men), as it turns women into second-class citizens that are at the mercy of the state (usually led by mostly men, especially when abortion is not available even for rape, incest, life-threatening fetal malformation or even when mother's physical or mental health is in danger, by forcing a pregnant woman to carry to term). Sadly, today's abortion restriction laws are often more draconian than laws (or customs) from many centuries ago when there was at least an acknowledgement around the viability of the fetus around the quickening (regardless how crude, still wrong or fuzzy that concept is).
Overall, I found the argument regressive, ultra-conservative, tendentious and even a smidgen callous.
