Abortion In America – Political Football

In Jimmy Carter’s book “Our Endangered Values” abortion is addressed.  He thoughtfully and thoroughly approaches what is still one of the most divisive issues in America.  He addresses it from the religious perspective, the moral perspective, the legal perspective and the political perspective.  He is certainly imminently qualified to do so.  He has firsthand knowledge surrounding every facet of the issue.   

 President Carter has demonstrated time and time again that he is foremost a humanitarian.  He is a deeply religious man who believes strongly in his Christian faith which is clearly where pro-life exposure would have been the dominate philosophy.   The political party he represented, and worked so hard to elect him president, strongly supported a pro-choice philosophy on abortion.  As president he was keenly aware of all the laws and legal ramifications of Roe v. Wade.  He has personally experienced all the prevailing passions that fuel the debate and, under enormous pressure, had to carefully weigh and navigate all these passions in his attempt to govern properly.  It is absolutely the best analysis on the issue I have come across. 

 

The only thing to have changed since President Carter wrote his book is that we now have a much clearer political perspective on the issue. 

 

The Republicans are the party that embraces the notion that life begins at conception.  With help from a fiercely loyal pro-life constituency the Republicans have controlled the white house for 20 of the last 31 years.  They have also periodically controlled both houses of congress during the same period of time.  These opportunities resulted in no significant modifications to the current abortion laws. 

It has become abundantly clear that should Roe v. Wade actually be repealed or dramatically altered it would potentially jeopardize that pro-life voting bloc and thus jeopardize Republican power and influence.  The Republicans are not about to engage in such destructive behavior.  It is undoubtedly their desire, and to their advantage, to maintain the status quo. 

 

The Democrats know this and they feed off of it.  They are quick to tell their fiercely loyal pro-choice constituency that the repeal of Roe v. Wade is only, and always, just one more Republican victory away.

Certainly, an issue this contentious cannot be ignored.  Passions run high so it is an unreasonable expectation that it will simply fade into oblivion.   As a result, it must be addressed.  In doing so it is necessary to begin with a clear understanding that if Americans want something badly enough, they will find a way to secure it whether it is legal or illegal. 

 

Legal gambling nationwide is estimated to generate some $637 billion annually.  Pornography has grown to a $14 billon dollar industry with roughly 400 web sites.  Legal prostitution in Nevada alone generates on average about $50 million a year.  The DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) budget has swollen to $2.4 billion.  And yes, there was that grand American experiment called prohibition. 

Meanwhile abortion rates peaked at 1.6 million in 1990 and have steadily fallen to an annual average of about 1.2 million.  It is estimated that since 1973 some 53 million abortions have been performed in America. 

 

While all of this was developing, church populations dwindled and social stigmas lost their sting as a motivational tool within our culture.   One would need to light a cigarette to encounter outrage over behavior today. 

 

President Carter’s treatise needs to be read and embraced.  It is also time for us to begin to realize that abortion is not a political issue.  Abortion is a political football which precludes any political resolutions from occurring.  Voting Republican does not assure an aggressive posture toward promoting pro-life values any more than voting Democratic solidifies a pro-choice culture.  In the final analysis we must begin to deal with abortion honestly.  It is a moral issue and like all moral issues its acceptance or rejection will be determined by “we the people” in our collective wisdom and actions.   

 

In an address at Western Michigan University on December 18, 1963 the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stated that while laws can alter certain behavior they cannot create or impose morality.   As King observed; “The law can't make my brother love me, but it can keep him from lynching me.”   King emphasized that changing the morality of a nation requires changing the heart.  The figures indicate there is much, much work to be done on that front and recent history clearly indicates that none of it will be done by our politicians.