A Brief Discourse on Abortion

It'll be brief because I think way too much is being said on this topic by men. In fact, I think way too much is being said by people who are interested in the "win" but not particularly in the life of either the child who may be born or the life of the mother who may bring that child into the world. There are many people who care about both of those things but I don't get that they're driving the current efforts.

In my experience, the people who genuinely care about the lives of pregnant women and the children they may birth are horrified at the notion of prosecuting women who abort or just miscarry, and investigating doctors who attend to women who abort or just miscarry. One of my previous physicians once told me, "These people [meaning the anti-abortion crowd] won't be happy until no one wants to be an obstetrician anymore. That'll sure do a lot for the birth of healthy babies."

I have met "pro-life" people who were genuinely compassionate. Along with believing the government should stop abortion, they believe the government should pay for good pre-natal and post-natal care. They also believe those who might engage in sexual acts should have education about and access to contraception. I don't necessarily agree with other things they believe but I wish there were more of those compassionate people in the current debate. It would also be nice to have more people who would listen to actual doctors and to the kind of people — I believe they're called "women" — who can actually get pregnant.