I am aiming this primarily at our elected pro-choice advocates, but if you are guilty as well, just stop it.
I’ve heard at least three elected Democrats explain why the overturning of Roe is so very bad for society by referencing some form of the following:
- “This makes it illegal in many states even in the case of rape and incest.”
- “This makes it illegal in many states even if there’s danger to the life of the mother.”
So… OK. That’s true. But it’s also a tacit acknowledgement that there exist both “good” and “bad” abortions, and it frames the argument that somehow “good” should be qualified and allowed but “bad”? No, we’re not going to discuss that.
Abortion is a medical procedure, performed either by a doctor or by pharmaceutical intervention. As of today, it is the only medical procedure that applies exclusively to women’s bodies that has now largely been banned in a majority of states (and of course — the next step is to go after the morning after pill, birth control pills, IUDs etc. because those methods don’t prevent fertilization, only gestation).
There’s no “good” or “bad” in a woman deciding to undertake a medical procedure or medical intervention. Putting conditions like those referenced above when discussing terminating a pregnancy doesn’t help. We need to discuss this outrage as the unprecedented biology-based discrimination that it is, not — inadvertently or otherwise — qualifying when this kind of medical decision-making is or is not appropriate.
Even if well intentioned, we need to call out our advocates on this issue when they frame the termination of a pregnancy in “good” and “bad” terms. Bring pressure on them (and on yourself, if appropriate) to discuss the underlying issue here, that by virtue of biology an entire portion of the population is now subjected to laws and regulations that don’t exist for the other portion of the population.
Talk about it that way — because that’s all that matters. There is no good or bad.
