Hello, everyone! I am working on a Pete the Cat sweater for my kid, and I can't decide if it actually looks like Pete the Cat. I am forging ahead, and then I think I will adjust the next size up if I don't like it.
The phrase "pro-choice" was trending on twitter this morning, because pastor Raphael Warnock (who is running for one of two senate seats in Georgia) said he was a pro-choice pastor. so I am offering my thoughts.
First and foremost, abortion should not be legislated by a popular vote, since the statistical majority of us in this country are Christian and abortion is a religious belief. It should not be legislated by our current contingent of mostly white men, because they (all due respect) have no idea what they are talking about when it comes to women's bodies, fetuses, or how those two symbiotic creatures are housed together.
It should be legislated by scientists and researchers, and economists. Yes, by people who know how money works.
On that note, judge women having abortions all you want. If you feel okay with referring to "those people" because you know someone who knows someone who uses abortion as birth control, then cool. But I am guessing there is a huge contingent of women in your circle who have distanced themselves from you not because they disagree with your beliefs, but because they had an abortion, it is none of your business why, and you have already preemptively made your stand clear that someone who had an abortion doesn't care about "the sanctity of human life."
In other words, you - a rational, grownup woman - are telling other rational and grownup women that they are shit because they made a medical decision that doesn't affect you. And you don't even know you are telling them that, because they didn't tell you they had an abortion. I mean...why would they?
So, the science piece is easy. The medical detractors, the ones who say abortion is not safe, that a fetus has a heartbeat at 18 days, that a fetus feels pain at four months...they are using their religion to justify their stand on the science. Their views are not accurate, not peer-reviewed, and not based on scientific research. Life begins at conception, sure. Tumors grow, fetuses grow, limbs grow, blah blah blah. But if sustainable life began at conception, then abortion would never be an issue. You could give birth at 18 days when you hear a "heartbeat," and that clump of cells would just grow into a person.
Also, life does not start with a heartbeat. You know this, because you have watched every crime and medical drama in the world, and checking for a pulse is the baseline for lifesaving measures. Also, cessation of brain activity is the baseline for stopping these measures (I am generalizing, but you get the idea). So there is no brain at 18 days, but rational, grownup women are convinced that a heartbeat is happening and that the fetus will just come out perfect, inexpensively, and will have a great life because of it.
So, let's look at the money piece. Why should economists be involved? Because you - a rational, grownup woman who is pro-life - don't want "illegals" here because they are taking your jobs and costing you too much in taxes. You don't want to pay reparations to black people because they are asking for something that happened 155 years ago (even though segregation and racism has been legal in your own lifetime...I'm looking at you, Ruby Bridges and Mildred Loving). You don't want your taxes to go up, but actually were alive at a time where someone working at the shoe store on the corner could work from 9:00am to 5:00pm and buy a house on that salary.
So, money is clearly a big deal to you.
Did you know that for every dollar spent on women's health and preventative care/family planning, anywhere from $3 to $20 in benefits is gained and saved from not spending money on unwanted pregnancies and babies?
That is a ton...a ton...of money.
Colorado offered a free IUD program for lower-income individuals and birth control at point-of-sale pharmacy instead of only with a prescription. Their abortion rate plummeted; they have had 10.9 abortions per 1,000 women in the state in the most recent years data is available. Georgia, which has almost twice the population, is at 14.1 per 1,000 with all of their restrictions. That is over three more abortions per thousand women, and with the number of restrictions in Georgia, how many of them do you think are causing people to go into debt and cause poverty? Well, here are the restrictions to get an abortion in Georgia:
- A patient must receive state-directed counseling that includes information designed to discourage the patient from having an abortion, and then wait 24 hours before the procedure is provided.
- Health plans offered in the state’s health exchange under the Affordable Care Act can only cover abortion in cases of life endangerment or severely compromised physical health.
- Abortion is covered in insurance policies for public employees only in cases of life endangerment.
- The parent of a minor must be notified before an abortion is provided.
- Public funding is available for abortion only in cases of life endangerment, rape or incest.
- An abortion may be performed at 20 or more weeks postfertilization (22 weeks after the last menstrual period) only cases of life endangerment, severely compromised physical health or lethal fetal anomaly. This law is based on the assertion, which is inconsistent with scientific evidence and has been rejected by the medical community, that a fetus can feel pain at that point in pregnancy.
Do you think, perhaps, that it may be costing Georgia more money in medical costs (both privately- and publicly funded), more money in public aid with the extra mouth to feed, more money in public housing, more money in subsidized daycare and health insurance, than Colorado?
I mean...we are talking about the difference between the cost of birth control and the cost of raising a child.
The bottom line is that everyone who is religiously pro-life should be legislatively pro-choice. Quit trying to figure out why women are having abortions. Just know that if you listen to the science, and you listen to the money, and pray for the lost souls of the unborn to whatever god you pray to (I won't even bother asking you to pray for the mother...you are beyond that), then you can actually call yourself "pro-life."
