Anti Abortion is Headed Toward a Cliff; No Brakes


It has been inevitable since day one women would be prosecuted for having abortion. Yet, "The woman has always been the victim of the crime, never the perpetrator" remains a myth and treated as fact. 

Today, anti abortion writers are trying to keep alive the idea women don't know much and that is why they should be excused from prosecution in abortions. The idea from long ago of stupid women is needed for political purposes. 

I remember reading a long essay written by one of the leaders of a national anti abortion non profit. He described what he saw as the future. It was repealing Roe. That would be followed by years of state political work getting anti abortion legislators elected and turning all states anti abortion. Note who gets the pay day of fund raising from this long drawn out process: non profits like his. It is job security. Such groups do not want something mucking up or disrupting this stable and profitable future.

The Southern Baptist Convention has passed two measures stating the woman is responsible for her abortion. The State of Louisianna had a bill, now withdrawn, criminalizing women who had abortions. The link author is appalled by this. Paraphrasing, "Don't they understand the public will not tolerate moms going to jail." He then quotes some other "authority" who explains women who have abortions do not understand what they are doing.

As discussed in the book We Don't Know Ourselves about Ireland it can fit the agendas of church and politics to perpetuate something those who perpetuate know is not true. Pro-life political managers claim women who get abortions have never heard the fetus is a human being. That's nonsense. They have heard it and get abortions anyway. But to admit this out loud kills the goose that laid the golden egg.   

It was decided long ago by the men running the anti-abortion political operation they would allow only incremental restrictions in abortion, not go for elimination. The link author states clearly incrementalism will have political support but criminalizing the decision maker, the woman, will not. The thinking was, and remains, these men would "manage" the politics letting only what they thought politically feasible to go forward and laws with clear moral principles, like prosecuting women, scuttled. 

The problem with the incrementalists in anti abortion politics is they cannot "manage" how others vote. They cannot restate forever something they know is myth. They could not stop managing who attended the Southern Baptist National Convention nor who got elected to the Louisianna Legislature. Their enemies won, they lost. Those who want to prosecute women for abortions consider women to be smart and well informed. Every woman who gets an abortion today has heard the "pro life" message. To pretend women have no idea about the arguments surrounding abortion is the ultimate insult. It is a myth that is being destroyed from within. 

My prediction about all this is coming to pass. Prosecuting women is gaining support inside right-to-life politics. As it does so, right-to-life politics will lose national support.

Comments

  1. AnonymousMay 21, 2022 at 7:41 AM

    Enjoyed this post Jon. If the anti-abortion industry is honestly committed to the idea that a zygote of human origin is a person, they are compelled to charge women that elect to terminate their pregnancies with murder. Incrementalism betrays that commitment. Would you say Roe v Wade is an example of incrementalism?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JonMay 21, 2022 at 9:39 AM

      Thanks, anonymous. "Would you say Roe..is an example of incrementalism?" Interesting question, I had not thought about that. I suppose it is. Instead of leaving the entire matter up to the woman and doctor it puts some rules in place--moves the needle in a sense.

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