January 22 marks the 39th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision known as Roe v. Wade. For those of you too young (or too old) to remember back to 1973, Jane Roe (real name Norma McCorvey) sued in federal court in Dallas to have the 1847 Texas anti-abortion law overturned as unconstitutional. Henry B. Wade was the Dallas County District Attorney. By the time the case was decided by the Supremes (by a vote of 7 to 2), McCorvey's daughter was two years old. The rest, as we say, is histrionics.
Beginning the next day and everyday since, the religious right, the Catholic Church and every politician wishing to curry favor with those two groups have been protesting. Some of those protests are merely annoying. Some are disgusting. A few are dangerous. Abortion clinics have been bombed, health care workers have been brutally assaulted and in July of 2009 Dr. George Tiller was murdered in a church in Wichita, KS; all in the name of protecting the unborn. Interestingly enough there have been no suicide bombings. I guess Christian crazies aren't as dedicated as their Muslim brothers.
So for the last 38 years Washington DC has been the host city for the March For Life. Everyone who thinks that they have the right to tell women what their morality should look like will descend on the Capital and chant. The fetus photo vendors will do a brisk business as well as the pig blood concessionaires. No doubt, the pro choice legion will also appear to express their support for what they consider settled law. But hey, this is America. If tens of thousands of young people can assemble on the National Mall to chuckle at Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert why not the anti-abortion crowd? After all, maybe a few protesters will hook up and create a few babies not to abort.
There is one question however, that has vexed this humble blogger ever since Justice Harry Blackmun issued the majority decision back in '73. With all the commotion coming from the Christian right, why no support for birth control? Alongside the placards of happy fetuses why no condoms with smiley faces? Next to people yelling "abortion is murder" why not a chorus of "Quasense makes good sense"? Really, a few people in the crowd dressed as Trojans will tell a stronger message than demonstrators in bloody lab coats.
And where are the pharmaceutical companies in all this? There would seem to be a natural symbiosis between those trying to uphold the rights of the unborn and those companies whose livelihoods depend on America's youth not being able to keep it in their pants. The battle cry of the anti-abortion crowd ought to be "take a pill, wear a raincoat...problem solved". Companies like Merck, Bayer and Barr Labs should have tents on the Mall explaining how birth control pills could close abortion clinics within a year. Church and Dwight, distributors of Trojans, America's #1 condom, could have latex-clad actors working the crowd handing out little packets of protection.
Dream on, my friends. No one in Jesus-land will ever acknowledge that the best way to stop abortions is to prevent unwanted pregnancies to begin with. And the best way prevent pregnancies is not, repeat not, abstinence or praying or locking your teenage daughters in a church until they marry. If you want to stop abortions, teach your kids about sex and explain how easy it is to prevent not-so-blessed events. Education and honesty doesn't promote promiscuity, it promotes responsibility. Give your daughters some credit. Demystify sex. Now that a good saying for a placard.
No comments:
Post a Comment