"A Sucker is Born Every Minute" Applies to Anti-Abortion



The phrase in the title is attributed to showman PT Barnum. To his dying day, he claims he never said such a thing. I'll take his word for it. That does not diminish the wisdom and insight into human beings everywhere in the world encompassed in the sentence.

Recently, the Governor of Massachusetts signed into law a bill allowing late term abortions when a doctor and patient agree this is the best or only alternative to the problem faced at that time. The bill had been passed by a big majority in State's legislature.  

During the decades after the Roe decision when abortion was legal in every state, the anti-abortion industry told supporters, "Send us money and we will force abortion back to the states. They we will go state-by-state abolishing abortion in each one until the country returns to the state before Roe when there were no abortions."

This position was dishonest in two ways. First, it was intended not to eliminate abortion but to attract funds from the gullible for years fighting in each state across the nation. Second, if abortion was illegal in every state abortions would continue but be underground just as they were before Roe made them legal. I've seen hundreds to written essays by anti-abortion pundits. I have not seen even one who will admit there were hundreds of thousands of abortions every year when they were illegal. There is written testimony about this as well as hospital records of women with infections caused by abortions. Admitting this would hurt donations.  

Massachusetts is handling abortion rationally. Women in that state can and will get abortions, even occasionally late in pregnancies. Forcing them to go to other states is not good medicine, it is punishment.  

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