When the Supreme Court sent up a trial balloon as to the future of Roe V. Wade six weeks ago, I posted on the topic of Abortion. Now that the current nine have overturned the nine of five decades ago, it is time for me to repeat some of what I wrote and expand somewhat on the topic of Contraception.
First, let’s put away the placards on both sides and cancel the marches on Washington. This is the thorniest of issues and none of the argumentative finger pointing is going to change that.
As soon as conception takes place, which is within just a brief few hours after intercourse, the opportunities and attendant rights for, not just one, but two or more entities comes into play: the fertilized embryo, the mother, and the mother’s entire extended family, not to mention the father and his extended family. At the instant of conception things get very, very complicated.
In effect, the Supreme Court said that it was not qualified to adjudicate the issue of abortion and now leaves it to states. The problem is that the states are equally unqualified, and it goes almost without saying that often the individuals involved are unprepared and unqualified to make these decisions.
As I said, six weeks ago, any discussion of the issue based on ethics is always going to founder on the question of the value of a human life, but the value of any human life can only be weighed and measured at the end of that life, not before it has even started.
From a practical standpoint, making abortions harder, moral issues aside, will often but not always lead to thoughtless pregnancies followed by unwanted children suffering in less than nurturing environments, and that will cause problems for society at large down the road.
If, as currently seems likely, the country and many states take a more conservative approach to abortion, we as a nation must be prepared for the consequences of those actions. If we take a moral stance and go Pro-life, what will we do to counter the inevitable consequences? Contraception to effectively prevent inception is the only good option.
Contraception must be readily available, as I’ve heard is the case in the United Kingdom! There are many varieties. The women have only to be well educated and choose the one that appeals to them.
Contraceptive tactics have been around since ancient times. Last night I watched a show on the History channel, The Booze, Bets, and Sex that Built America. One segment of the show featured an immigrant named Julius Schmid who made a fortune manufacturing and selling condoms illegally before and during World War 1. He had to stay on the wrong side of the law because of the high-minded reformers of the Temperance movement at the time. He was performing a valuable public service that people wanted, but he still got arrested. During the war, he could not sell to the American troops, so he sold to the allied forces. Consequently, the allied soldiers suffered less venereal disease and remained where they were most needed, on the battlefield.
Attention high-minded moralists of this century and this decade: If you are going to draw a hard line on abortion, then you are going to have to be lenient and permissive on contraception.
Okay Republicans, you got abortion prohibition. Now you must pay the consequences.
You wail about family values. Your Jesus said, “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household. Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. (Mat 10:34-38).”
Marx, our father of scientific socialism, said that the family is a tool of capitalism, and its main function is to maintain capitalism and reinforce social inequalities.
And then there is the riddle: What do you call a single mother who has her tubes tied? A crime stopper. Cruel but true enough in the aggregate; children who grow up in single mother households are far more likely to become criminals. But bad dads are worse than no dads.
Here is an equitable plan:
1. Tax the wealth of Republicans to adequately compensate women who must now give birth. If they choose to keep their children, then the federal government must drastically increase its support, including compulsory daycare and guaranteed public employment.
2. Encourage women to sell their newborns. “Free” market freaks and adoption zealots will like that.
3. End mass incarceration and hire the pardoned men as federal marshals to harvest ballets in Communities of Oppressed, Marginalized, Exploited, and Underserved Poor (COMEUP).
4. Match the new election workers with single mothers. (Give family a try, better than getting a service dog in prison.)
5. Yes, it is time to license parenting. We have the technology, but we just need the will. Redistribution of income is not enough. We must equalize wealth and enforce political control of genes. We will direct human evolution.
To get there in a few easy steps, end the Senate filibuster, pack the Court, make states out of DC, Puerto Rico, and Guam. Reform election laws to provide ballet harvesting. Only five months until the Congressional election. Hurry, this is a National Emergency.
You said, “Okay Republicans, you got abortion prohibition. Now you must pay the consequences.”
Agreed, except it is not just Republicans who must pay the consequences. By the way, please do not misconstrue my previous statement as an endorsement of abortion. It is not!
Matthew was a Christian religious zealot. I am not!
Marx was a zealot of power for the working class. I will be too, if and when the working class demonstrates the ability to act judiciously and peacefully.
I am not laughing at your riddle: “What do you call a single mother who has her tubes tied? A crime stopper.” If that is “true” in the aggregate, it is also false in the specifics.
Your “equitable plan” is humorously untenable, but thanks for the laugh!
You said, “…but the value of any human life can only be weighed and measured at the end of that life, not before it has even started.” The woman who aborts puts a negative value on her preborn. A woman who keeps her newborn places high value that sometimes declines after 13 years.
Contraceptives fail. Demand for improvements now increases. A new easily reversible replacement for tubal ligation, fallopian valves–Baby Gates–with stylish access zippers, could be a good invention and investment.
Artificial wombs would help. Transparent and placed on the coffee table, the fetus gets a womb with a view. But that won’t happen for decades, if ever.
A long post-Roe baby boom begins around Easter 2023. More men must be more responsible for the families they sire.
“But you can’t legislate morality,” some say.
Government compels payment of taxes, schooling, automobile license and insurance, building permits, and we still have the Carter-revived 1980 Selective Service. Let’s abolish the SS and replace it with making dads great again.
Buy health insurance or pay a tax was the best part of the Democrat’s Affordable Care and Patient Protection Act and Republicans removed it later (too scared to abolish the subsidies and market distortions). Let’s pass a Family Care and Protection Act that compels responsible fatherhood.
Never ever have licensing for parenthood, I’ve heard that chiller over the decades. No, we don’t need the ruling class directing human evolution.
Find and remove government obstacles to adoption.
Very sensible, Richard, and the “womb with a view” made me laugh out loud (sometimes abbreviated as lol, unfortunately).
As for the methods of contraception, I have not weighed in, leaving it as a matter of personal choice and preference. I only know that if we (or any country) restrict abortion, then it is in our best interest to facilitate contraception.
People will continue to have sex, often without fully considering the potential consequences.
Once conception has occurred, I suggest bringing the child to term. I personally know of some instances when that course of action worked well.