My political cowardice: Abortion

You know I've tried the same old soft shoe on abortion that the president does ( with some other variations) It wasn't till some of the blog posts that came out with the Mier's nomination and around the same time I realized abortion was an issue of my own personal political cowardice.

The US constitution doesn't remotely give a power to the Federal government to much around in a medical procedure like abortion. That is abundantly clear, but what is less clear is does the court have the power to shoe horn that away from state governments.

You cannot use the constitution as an effective dodge on ROE, I get that now.

The "right to privacy" is in the constitution..... I am totally on board with that, but I am not sure a right to privacy gives a right to a medical procedure. That same logic justifies legalizing prostitution, narcotics, and all manner of social ills. Now as I said I am not really sure the constitution gives government to much power to ban procedures that are medically sound... I'm not sure I see it.

"But It's my body" I hear that refrain from feminists and I sympathize I really do. But if we look to the majority of abortion procedures they are ones people "choose" ( Not things dictated by physical health, rape, or incest) rather then things they have forced on them.

So why don't they take management of their bodies sooner?

Its because it isn't about their bodies it is about removing consequences from their actions. If they viewed their bodies as sacred they would have taken the numerous reasonable steps to prevent a pregnancy. They didn't because they knew the actions would carry no consequence.

And we then look at what we see with this choice.

More and more people aborting children with legitimate birth defects. I understand doing that, and I have to say if I was out there reproducing with a partner I'd be struggling with that a lot.... But there is a point to those who compare it to the euthanasia of Nazi Germany. Angelina Jolie's father starred in this movie where an old Nazi he was hunting down told him how he and his generation made Germany better, cleared the dead wood and that was why West Germany was so great....Are we a better society for minimizing those born who aren't physically or mentally healthy?

And if we look across the pond we see that harelips, a defect that a very simple plastic surgery procedure can correct is now an acceptable reason for abortion. While this is worse in some respects then the euthanising of children with down syndrome before they are born, in another sense it really points to the fact that in moral issues like this the slippery slope has a tendency to work.

How about children who have genetic defects which -might- lead to something. If your child has a higher probability of being a substance abuser why not just abort him?

Abortion isn't an easy issue. "Choice" and "Life" are really shallow understandings of the issue.

We need to teach women that you should take control of your bodies before you have sex, because if you have consentual sex but didn't take precautions and you get pregnant I am not sure it is something we as a society should allow people to have the abortion "out"

I know some of you are going to talk about people to poor to support their children. And the funny thing is everyone I know who is poor and has kids and wants to be a productive member of society, they find a way to make it work. They may struggle but they end up doing ok.

Those people who however demand the government pay for their children are a problem, and they are a problem that don't get abortions largely. Abortions tend to impact people who want to try in life, not those who don't want to try.

Those who encourage abortion, who sell t-shirts to promote pride in abortion are trying to tell women "you don't have to be responsible for your bodies" that's not the empowering women need.

I think if a child comes under force it really is something that should be permissible to have an abortion. The same if you or the child will not survive the pregnancy. And I can even go a long with serious congenital defects of which the child would likely not live to see his first day in school.

In that area I have some areas I am largely uncomfortable, but I am not sure a society can justify preventing it.

I don't think the federal government in any respect has a justifiable reason to be in the abortion industry.

I think the states should regulate it on medical necessity grounds and that's it.

I just think we need to find a way to make this philosophy expressible