Anti-Abortion? Vote Pro-Choice!

Over the past 30 years, the debate on abortion in this country has developed into a trench war.  The "pro-choice" and "pro-life" sides are both solidly encamped in one political party, with neither side able to make any headroom.

However, most Americans agree on what should be the important issues in this debate.  Most Americans agree that killing babies is bad, and that less abortion is better.  Most Americans also agree that women should be able to determine when they have children.  However, currently neither side in the debate allows for both of these points of view.  I think the time is ripe for one side of the debate to take a slightly different view of the debate, being "pro-choice", but actively trying to reduce the number of abortions in America.

There have been over 1 MILLION abortions per year since 1973, when the Roe v. Wade decision was given.  That, as any pro-life person will tell you, adds up to 46 MILLION abortions over the past 30 years.  In general, even the thought of a mother wanting to willingly kill her child, even if unborn, is an affront to God, nature, and man.  If one believes that each one of these abortions kills a living human being, one cannot help but be appalled and petrified by such.

However, the pro-life faction would have you believe that you have a choice between killing babies (pro-choice) and not killing them (pro-life).  This is a blatant lie.  Most "pro-choice" politicans dislike abortion as much as "pro-life" politicians, they simply feel that there are situations in today's world where abortions are the lesser evil.  What the pro-life faction also doesn't say is that if they were really interested in ending abortions, there are far more productive things they could have been doing to do so.

John Kerry has seemed to approach a better point of view on the abortion issue; though through his excessive use of nuance it seems more like an "I opposed abortion before I supported it" scenario.  What we as a nation need to say is this: In a perfect world, there would be no need for abortions.  However, we do not live in such a perfect world.  Thus, we must attempt to minimize the number of abortions that do occur.  However, there are some cases where abortions are inevitable, most notably in the cases of rape and the health of the mother, but also in other situations due to other responsibilities the mother would have to endure; financial, temporal, etc.

If one wishes to minimize the frequency of abortions, one would be far better off by supporting programs to help minimize the situations that cause abortions to occur, such as: Using contraceptives to prevent such pregnancies from occurring.  Increasing education so people are aware of the situations that can cause unwanted pregnancies.  Mandatory maternity and paternity leave sufficient for parents to raise children.  Aid to lower-income families so they can become able to support themselves at a higher standard of life.  These are all programs that in general "pro-choice" politicians will support and "pro-life" politicians will oppose.

A pro-choice politican will be able to support positions to attempt to minimize the abortions that occur.  Pro-life politicians do not and will not, preferring instead to use the possibility of eliminating ALL abortions to guarantee votes in future elections.