Pro-Life

I hate that anti-choice people call themselves pro-life!

I was channel surfing today, and happened upon some orthodox Jew giving a speech in front of a large group of people. My ethnocentric curiosity made me stop and watch. I was terribly disappointed to learn that he was speaking to people participating in "The March for Life", being held today, on the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade.

I watched quite a lot of the coverage, on and off throughout the afternoon. I found myself tight fisted, shaking my head, almost crying at times. I wasn't reacting this way in sympathy to their message, I was reacting this was out of my anger. The people in attendance looked normal. They looked like people you would see in the supermarket, at the mall, living next door. They were from all denominations, races, and ages. There were even young children carrying signs that read "Abortion Hurts Women".

The speakers repeated the usual anti-choice rhetoric. One called abortion in this country the "American Holocaust", another invoked words spoken by MLK, and said that abortion is this generation's civil rights issue. I don't necessarily disagree with the latter. One commentator said he was inspired by the large turnout of teenagers. He actually said something to the effect of; these kids are the next generation of voters, the aborted kids won't be voting. I guess in his mind the aborted fetuses, had they been born, would have been pro-choice. If you follow this idiotic line of reasoning, shouldn't he be happy that they were aborted? Less people to vote pro-choice, no?

I don't know why I'm always surprised that there are still so many people out there who are anti-choice. I used to see them every Sunday, in two locations, while driving to work. Rain or shine, they would stand out there with their signs. One of the clinics was in a strip mall that also housed a Starbucks. It always looked like they were praying and waving their pictures of Mary in opposition to the overpriced coffee.

Abortion is a civil rights issue. Keeping abortion legal ensures that a woman is the sole holder of rights to her own body. Anti-choice people say that they are pro-life. The are pro-life only when it comes to a mass of cells that is unable to survive outside of a woman's body. They are not pro-life when it comes to the actual woman housing those cells. Not that they want her dead, she is a necessary incubator after all.

If we lose the power to make decisions for ourselves, to make choices over our own bodies, then we lose EVERYTHING. Where will it stop? Will anti-choice people be happy when women have to resort to back alleys, and coat hangers? Will they put a stop to the use of contraceptives? Will they have a set of rules that pregnant women will be required, by law, to adhere to in order to ensure the health and safety of the fetus? Will all women of childbearing age be legally barred from smoking, or drinking, on the off chance that they are pregnant? Where do we draw the line? What are we willing to give up?