About Abortion and Democrats

05/18/2008

Paul Munnis


Abortion might be best described as a disease of poverty. Indeed when women have an abortion it is usually for one of several reasons:

• They cannot provide a stable basis of food, shelter, and clothing for a child and so they despair of being able to raise it.
  
  
• The household that the child will be reared in is so abusive that the mother despairs of the kind of life that a child will lead if allowed to be brought into the home environment.
  
  
• The mother is mentally ill;
  
  
• In some cultural cases infanticide or gendercide is practiced against female children because they are thought to be all burden an no reward. In those cultures when women are allowed to live then a dowry is expect to be paid to reimburse the parents for the cost of raising the female child;
  
  
• Sexual promiscuity which makes a child unwanted, unloved, and thus disposable is another reason for abortion and a society that celebrates free-sex attitudes and selfishness creates such a condition;
  
  
• After a disaster there is often a surplus of children, not enough people in the community who are able or willing to rise them, and so some are killed, usually they are female children that are less valued in some cultures;
  
  
• Some women have other plans for their life and thus a pregnancy complicates things and so the child is aborted.
  
  
• Medical concerns about the health of the child when for example they fear a genetic problem arising from incest or a known history of genetic disfigurement.
  
  
• In some societies children are killed if they are born defective. This is not abortion for the child is carried full-term but it is infanticide based on genetic factors.
  

These are some of the key reasons for abortion or child killing taking place.

Democrats have been falsely painted by the GOP as being in favor of abortion. We are not in favor of abortion either as a Party or as a group. In no case do we ever support the killing of a full-term child.

What we do favor are two things:

• Creating a society where children can be afforded, raised, nurtured, and cared for, without the need for abortion. Thus you see Democrats favoring social programs that permit people to raise their children in dignity. You also see Democrats insisting on a living minimum wage in the unskilled service sector especially. To Democrats nurturing includes high quality public education and a health program that cares for children’s physical needs;
  
  
• Choice about giving birth -- which brings the mother out of the dark alleyways and tenements where illegal abortions are often unsafe, unsanitary, and brutal murders of children and out into a more safe, sanitary, and humane environment where a child is aborted medically and hopefully as painlessly as possible. Democrats are not happy about the need for a woman to choose an abortion but if she feels she must then we agree with the Supreme Court that outlawing it only drives a woman to desperate measures which are often the unsafe, unsanitary, and the cruelest of all methods. The Court observes that women will make a choice anyhow, regardless of the law, and it is better to offer them places where abortion is medically supervised. For Democrats, abortion is not about religion, our culture values human life; it’s about being pragmatic about the bad situation that some women find themselves in and that drives many to despair and to abortion.
  

As we go into 2008 we are upset with both our State and Federal government for their role in aborting those social programs aimed at helping mothers retain and raise their children including funding for public education and healthcare. Right now these are the subject of intense negotiations in St. Paul with a DFL legislature and a GOP Governor who has specialized in raiding funds set aside for social programs, education, and child health care. These program killing efforts are GOP efforts and they always occur because some Republican is ranting and raving about how he doesn’t want to spend any money on welfare for somebody else. This rant has been given the title: “No New Taxes,” and is the battle cry of neo-cons in government and we have a Governor who represents them in St. Paul. We think these people are the cause of abortions and do not take responsibility for their role in creating an environment where women are forced to choose to abort.

Democrats are often maligned for supporting birth control and organizations like Planned Parenthood, yet we say it is better to prevent an unwanted birth rather than to abort the pregnancy. To Democrats ours is a pragmatic stance.

To Democrats a child is precious. The child being killed might have lived to become a famous statesman, a doctor, an instrument of God’s healing Grace. We do not know what has been lost when an innocent child is aborted. Hillary Clinton said it best: “We do not favor abortion and we hope it is a case of few and far between.” She is right for that is what Democrats work towards -- creating a society where children are wanted and are welcome and are cared for. It does take a village to raise a child in today’s economy. When each in the village gives a little to raise a child the world becomes a happier place.

Because of our stance, and many of us are Roman Catholics, we have had to take a lot of heat because our position goes against that of the Roman Curia who holds all abortion to be morally wrong. We agree with Rome but ask what happens when a society won’t make room for a child? On this there is no cogent response from Rome. We have closely monitored the arguments of the former Mother Theresa who herself despaired of the condition of women who feel obliged to abort a pregnancy. She admits that her solution of “adoption” is a problem because of a lack of adoptive parents in a world where the village is unwilling to raise a child not their own.

When it comes to economics, just 10% of the three trillion dollars squandered on the Iraq War would have kept all of the Democratic Party social programs alive and well for two decades. Come to think of it the money would have taken Social Security and Medicare out of the threat zone too.

I wanted to take time to say these things during a lull in the debate over abortion for the Republicans have become somewhat subdued on the subject since the Plan B birth control pill was introduced, sometimes called “The Morning After Pill.” Yet it is very likely to be raised once more as a false accusation against Democrats as some GOP candidate gets desperate for free publicity during this coming election.

Let us commit to being humane and to create a world where children are welcome, valued, nurtured, and loved. Let us be willing to be a part of a village that will raise a child. Let us extend healthcare and quality education to our children and let’s give thanks when we are in a financial position to be of help. Some might want to consider becoming foster parents and others might want to consider adoption and still others might just want to assure that the needed social programs are present and funded.