Reason Magazine: Steve Chapman: Planned Parenthood and Our Abortion Choices

Source:Reason Magazine

What is very typical in Washington especially in Congress is that when something controversial happens that puts one party on the defensive like the Planned Parenthood videos, the other party especially if they have power in Congress not just rushes to judgment, but rushes to action. The Republican controlled House of Representatives, votes to defund Planned Parenthood and the Republican controlled Senate, takes it up today with Senate Democrats voting to block it on a strict party-line vote. With not a single Democrat, or Republican voting with the other side. Which I would think would leave people who prefer just to observe Washington and look at things objectively asking the question, “what was this for and what was the point? Didn’t Senate Republicans know they didn’t have the votes going in and that not one Democrat would vote with them?”

With all the other issues that Congress could be addressing right and since they are so addicted to vacation and go out of their ways to get out of Washington and bash this city, even though all of them seem to be addicted to having jobs here especially since they don’t have to be in town and work much, you would think they would find more useful things to do with the taxpayers time. Then to work on issues where neither party has the power to get what they want and doesn’t want to compromise. And this other idea that Congressional Republicans seem to be considering about shutting down the Federal Government if Democrats and President don’t agree to defund Planned Parenthood, is even dumber. And just adds to the dysfunction in Congress and Washington as a whole. That Washington isn’t about governing, but trying to score partisan political points.

The whole Planned Parenthood debate, if you don’t like abortion here and believe taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to pay for someone else’s abortion, that is not what Planned Parenthood does. With taxpayer funds, even though I’m sure they would love to provide those services. They are in the business of women’s health care and empowering women to decide when and how they get pregnant and allowing for women to make these decisions for themselves. Even if they have sex lives and do those things with men. What the pro-life community and the broader Traditional Values Coalition doesn’t seem to understand that is abortion and the right to choose when it comes to abortion is not only here, but it isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. The next President, mostly likely will be a Democrat and be able to replace the two aging Liberal Justice’s on the Supreme Court with young middle-age Liberals. And then after that the next Justice’s will all be replacing the elderly Conservatives on the Court.

So if I’m facing this reality as a pro-lifer, or lets say someone whose anti-abortion, or an anti-abortionist which is more accurate, knowing the route of a constitutional amendment and the current and most likely future power structure in Washington, I’m looking past Congress and the White House. And looking at political campaigns and treating abortion like the way the anti-tobacco advocates treated tobacco in the 1990s. To use pop culture terminology, to make abortion seem uncool and put out all the facts about it and not distort information about abortion, but to put real information about abortion out there and to let American women know that you don’t have to get an abortion. That there are other alternatives like adoption out there. Which is what some people in the anti-abortion community are already doing and as a result we’re seeing record lows for abortion in America now.

The right to choose whether its abortion, or any other personal choice, or personal freedom issue, is exactly that. The right for an individual, in this case women to make a decision for themselves. Instead of big government trying to do that for them. Personal freedom comes with personal responsibility. So if a women decides to have an abortion she’s financially and personally obligated to deal with it. So no taxpayer funds for abortion, other than to save the life and health of the mother. But it gives people who are anti-abortion completely, to put out information to potential mothers about the consequences of abortion, as well as the alternatives to it. Instead of trying to get big government and Uncle Sam to put his big fat bloated foot down and say, hell no!