Is Abortion Really the Issue?

by Gerry Woods

Republican talking points often contradict one another. How can the GOP be both pro-guns and pro-life? How can they preach the Constitution and the right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness, but takeaway its citizen’s, specifically women’s, personal rights? When did the GOP change their views on Government Overreach?

When COVID-19 hit, the CDC strongly recommended masks to protect people from severe illness and death, but every step of the way GOP lawmakers fought mask mandates, stating they infringed on their personal liberties and space.

Since Roe vs Wade went into law, Republicans have been trying to overturn the decision. How is forcing a woman to carry another human being for nine months, regardless of the circumstances, not infringing on her personal liberties? At conception, the embryo cannot sustain life; it is not a child. In fact, according to PubMed.gov, it is not until the fetus is about 24 weeks that it can possibly sustain life outside the womb.

Fifty plus years ago, as a young mother of three, I fought this fight, never dreaming my granddaughters would be fighting the fight too. How can the GOP, and multiple religious groups, believe their right trumps the woman’s right? Why are her personal rights, alongside her husband and doctor’s opinions, lesser than, and ignored? How can they, most males, possibly know what is best for her and her family?

Conservative Republicans claim they are pro-life, but their actions prove otherwise. They are pro-pregnancy and pro-birth, but not pro-life. If they were really pro-life, wouldn’t it make sense to have stricter gun laws since a gun’s only purpose is to kill? Wouldn’t they promote and provide better healthcare, education, food security, and shelter for the less fortunate?

Pro-choice is simply that…a choice. No one who is pro-choice has to have an abortion. I am pro-choice because I believe it is MY body, MY choice. Over time, women have had abortions for many reasons – financial, health risks, rape, incest, to name a few. Many struggled with their decision then and even today. Yet, they acknowledge they were glad they had the choice.

Many pro-life supporters say the baby can always be put up for adoption. True, adoption is a possibility, but it is not always that simple. What if a woman with two children is barely making ends meet and then becomes pregnant? How is she going to pay her medical bills, buy pre-natal vitamins, feed and clothe a third child? How would she explain to the baby’s siblings why she is giving him/her up? Adoption is not always a viable option.

Additionally, many Republicans want to ban birth control and sex education in schools. Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Alabama, and Mississippi have the highest teen pregnancy rate in the country, and all have Republican leaders. Obviously, their regulations and ideals are not working.

It is interesting to wonder why the GOP never discusses the father’s role and his responsibility. After all, it takes a woman and a man to create an embryo. So, why are the men never included in their plight? If a man and woman have consensual sex that results in a pregnancy, why is child-support not enforced for a minimum of 18 years? If a man rapes a woman, why is he not punished in addition to jail time, with a vasectomy so an unwanted pregnancy will never occur again?

In Republican controlled pro-life states, Medicare, Medicaid, and health insurance coverage are also an issue. Texas has the highest rate of uninsured citizens in the country; the Governor refused the federally funded Medicaid expansion. Many pro-life supporters only care about unborn babies? What about the toddlers, adolescents, young adults, and elderly?

The number of abortions has decreased dramatically because of medical advances and people’s knowledge, but for some women, it is still the only option. If Republicans are pro-life, how can their solution to abortion be arresting the mother and trying her for murder? Are we truly back to the Bible’s “an eye for an eye”? At the end of the day, the government regardless of affiliation cannot rid abortion in this country. If Republicans interfere, all they will be truly getting rid of are safe abortions. Women, if desperate, will return to deadly back-alley and unsafe abortions, and mothers’ lives will be lost needlessly.

We must vote these people out of office and protect the women and children of this country. Everyone deserves the right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness, as well as the right to control their own body!