Texas Abortion Ban: Do As I Say...

There are some topics I’d rather not get in to. Abortion is one of them. It’s a topic that is just too personal to people. Some feel incredibly strongly about being pro-life, like my mom. It’s really her most important issue and she will never vote for a pro-choice politician. Even if that means voting for those who are less desirable on every other front. I don’t agree with her but I respect her conviction. She’s a woman who raised seven kids and views motherhood as a pretty sacred duty and I love my mom.

On the other hand, I also know women who got pregnant accidentally. Either because they were young and perhaps irresponsible, or because of failure of birth control methods. I feel for those women, because I know that the decision they made was not flippant and I’m positive it was one of, if not the most difficult decisions they’ve made in their lives. A decision that I, and men like me, have never had to make. And I’m sure there are quite a few men, who would have a sigh of relief if they were ever to find out that the decision was made without their knowledge.

I’ve never liked the labels we put on this issue. The diametrical opposition of pro-life or pro-choice. I’m looking at the smiling pictures of my two children above my computer and thinking, “how could I not be pro-life?” But my wife and I married six years ago, financially stable and were able to start our family fairly quickly and with a great support system around us. Like the label or not, that is privilege. But suppose we had been the ones, struggling to get through college, or find jobs in a bad economy, or just somehow were not prepared for parenthood. I struggle to be a good dad now, I cannot imagine the kind of struggle a young, single woman might have and I literally thank God that I’ve never had to be in that position.

I do believe that abortion should be rare, which I know is not the popular view for some progressives. But I believe it because I think every resource should be available to both prevent unwanted pregnancies and to make the reality of child baring and raising children not quite so frightening or damn near impossible. It seems like a broken record, but republicans, who currently are hell bent on “protecting their freedoms,” cannot seem to help themselves but to fall into the evangelical tradition of legislating morality. They care so very little for the people they are criminalizing and put a Band-Aid over an open wound rather than treating the cause. As long as they don’t have to see it, they can feel morally superior. But the hypocrisy is astounding.

We really don’t need to look far for conservative politicians blaming women for getting pregnant. Crass, gross, and incredibly stupid remarks have been made by legislators that show just how out of touch they are with reality on this issue. But it’s intentional; you literally can’t be that naïve. While the most recent and outrageous laws enacted in Texas (why does anyone want to live in that state?) go above and beyond to penalize women and providers for illegal abortions, they make zero mention of a man’s responsibility. They also make no exceptions for cases involving rape. No exemptions. They’ve also included Salem witch hunt style provisions in which regular citizens are encourage to submit reports on suspicion of illegal activity. If you are familiar with Salem witch craft trails at all, just imagine what could happen here when people start making false claims. What kind of scrutiny and public humiliation are women going to be subjected to? And finally, why? Texas, with its majority republican-Trump supporting party has written the most restrictive anti-abortion laws in the country. Is it because they find abortion so morally reprehensible? Or is it something else? As the saying goes, it takes two to tango.

Donald Trump was embraced or at least accepted by most Christian conservatives because he adopted pro-life views and promised to enact pro-life policies. He succeeded in appointing three staunchly pro-life justices. But the hypocrisy of the republican party runs deep on this one. From Matt Gaetz to Texas AG Ken Paxton, Republican politicians have a sordid history of affairs and cover ups. Not that democrats don’t as well, but the puritanical double standard leans pretty hard to the right. So the solution to abortion, according to most conservatives is to not have sex in situations in which you wouldn’t want to have children right? Or, at least use protection? Right? Sure… In an interview with Howard Stern, Donald Trump was asked about having sex with many women and how he avoided STD’s. When asked about using protection, he said "Well, I don't know, you know there's lots of different ways of doing it. It's a very complicated subject. They say that more people were killed by women in this act than killed in Vietnam, OK." He went on to say how brave he was for his exploits and that he should be "Getting the Congressional Medal of Honor, in actuality." Not once during this interview was the subject of an accidental pregnancy even mentioned. Do you think that a man, who admittedly said “sometimes your own chemicals take over and you can't wait” never had an unintended pregnancy? You 100% know he did and you know how he handled it. You also know how every other politician in similar circumstances has “handled it”. What kind of man says of his own (legitimate) youngest son, "I mean, I won't do anything to take care of (Barron). I'll supply funds and she'll take care of the kids.”

Donald Trump is a scumbag, and we all know it, whether or not we admit it. I’m not even talking about this to prove a point about him. Donald Trump is the blown up ego of every politician like him who presents a front for the people to believe he supports them, but then creates legislation that only affects others. Legislation they will quickly and quietly side-step at their convenience. Since the Texas law goes after everyone involved in an illegal procedure, from the Uber driver to the receptionist, why don’t they add one more? Why don’t they add the man who provided the seed for this unwanted pregnancy in the first place? Maybe they should be sued, or sterilized? Maybe there should be a hotline to report men who have unprotected sex out of wedlock. The party of personal responsibility, right? I’m fairly certain that if this were the case, there’d be a lot of politicians walking around with no balls. Oh, wait…