The Wisdom of the American People

Today's poll numbers on abortion pose a stark contrast between the American people and the Republicans who claim to represent them. A solid majority of Americans believe Roe v. Wade should be upheld while also believing there should be restrictions on abortion. This pretty much describes this progressive's viewpoint on the issue with one great caveat: Unlike the Christian Mullahs, I do not claim to posess the wisdom to decide when circumstances are right for a woman to terminate a pregnancy. See, I, being male, can never become pregnant so am emminently unqualified to make such a decision.

Do I think partial birth abortion to be immoral? Immaterial. See, I'll never be faced with the choice. What if the baby were mine? At any state where it is not legally murder to terminate the baby's life, it isn't. I might be the father but I can't carry the child. If you want my personal line, I believe the fetus should be legally alive at the point where it, with medical help, could live on its own. A blastocyte is not a human being even if it is composed of human cells and contains human DNA. At that stage in its life, a flatworm has a more developed nervous system and can survive in a dirty pond. A blastocyte would die immediately. From the blastocyte could be harvested embryonic stem cells, cells with the promise of curing diseases such as alzheimer's and type 1 diabetes. The blastocyte itself is nothing but an unfeeling ball of cells.

Now to the important question, do I want to limit abortion. Most certainly; however, not in the way the Christian Ayatollah's want to limit it. To limit abortion, I'd result to the most sensible way, the way Europeans have proven to work over several decades. We should have mandatory sex education classes that tell the truth about sex, sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy and we should provide access to contraception for all, including the Morning-After pill. Yes, Deacon, I also mean your fourteen year old daughter and she shouldn't have to tell you about it. In the sex-ed class, I'd teach abstinance because it's the only proven preventative against both pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases but I'd go a step beyond the fundamentalist asprin-between-the-knees lessons and teach the children what to do when abstinance fails, as it does in a vast majority of cases and as it has throughout our history.

See, Deacon, our intelligent designer, evolution, made us like sex. It made us like it a lot, hence a population of over six billion on this planet. We did not attain that number through abstinance. It didn't work for the Quakers, who preached abstinance even in marriage and who had an out-of-wedlock pregnancy rate of over 70 percent. It won't work now, I don't care how much you delude yourself and threaten hellfire to the young man who defiled your daughter (as if she didn't participate). I would have your daughter have options when abstinance fails that don't include abortion.

See, she would have to make that decision, Deacon. The only difference between my position and that of the great majority of Americans is that I don't claim the wisdom to make it for her through the legislature of my state. The difference between my position and yours, Deacon, is I believe in a God that forgives sins and who gave us the intelligence to prevent a great number of our problems. The means to reduce or even eliminate abortion are there and are called contraception.