There have been few issues more contentious over the last few decades in America than abortion. Ever since the landmark decision in Roe v. Wade, the nation has been embroiled in a debate about when life begins, and if the mother of the unborn child has the right to terminate that pregnancy. A new Nebraska law passed last week will undoubtedly be the next in this contentious debate.
The Nebraska law, introduced by my county in Nebraska’s legislative branch, prohibits all abortions at or after 20 weeks of pregnancy. The length of 20 weeks is important because many doctors are of the belief that the infant in the womb can feel pain and is viable. Viable meaning if delivered the baby can live on its own.
This law faces an uphill struggle, however, there is hope for the 51 percent of Americans (according to a Gallup poll) who are pro-life. If the law is challenged in the Supreme Court, the deciding vote will lie with Justice Anthony Kennedy, who has voted to uphold the anti-life view in past years.However, he has moved significantly to the right ideologically since the last abortion case came through the Supreme Court. It is my sincere hope that the Nebraska abortion law will be upheld.
I am pro-life, and have always been pro-life. I believe that all abortions, with the exception of abortions required to save the life of the mother, should be illegal. The Declaration of Independence contains the immortal words “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator, with certain inalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” By having an abortion, the mother of that child is denying that child their inalienable rights.
One of my other main objections is the true lack of choice in the “pro-choice” debate. If you temporarily assume that the fetus is nothing more than a piece of the mother’s body, you must therefore assume that the biological mass belongs at least halfway to the father. I don’t need to explain how human reproduction works, but when a cell of the father meets the cell of the mother and combines, whatever results must half belong to the father. So, if abortions are to be legal should the father not get a say?
The road before the Nebraska law is a long one, however with recent court cases, and a shifting national consensus and Justice Kennedy’s new found conservatism the rights of the unborn may finally be recognized and appreciated in America.
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First, illegal abortion never has and never will stop abortion or even reduce its numbers. The number of abortions today is virtually the same as pre-Roe and we know that because of anecdotal information from pre-Roe days. Ruth Barnett performed 40,000 illegal but safe abortions in OR between 1918-1968. (The Abortionist: A Woman Against the Law-Rickie Solinger) That’s nearly 800 abortions per year. It would only take 1,250 additional illegal abortion providers across the U.S. during those years to reach a total of 1,000,000 million abortions a year. Feasible? Oh yes!
Dr. Josephine Gabler performed over 18,000 safe but illegal abortions between 1932-1941 in Chicago. That’s an average of 2,000 abortions a year. It would only take 499 additional illegal abortion providers across the U.S. during those years to reach a total of 1,000,000 million abortions a year. Feasible? Oh yes!
Dr. Edgar Bass Keemer, Jr. performed over 30,000 illegal but safe illegal abortions between 1938-1973. (When Abortion Was a Crime: Leslie J. Reagan and Carole Joffe- Doctor’s of Conscience) That’s an average of 858 abortions per year. It would only take 1,165 additional illegal abortion providers across the U.S. during those years to reach a total of 1,000,000 million abortions a year. Feasible? Oh yes!
The Jane Service, a group of women doing abortions in Chicago1969-1973 did 11,000 illegal but safe abortions including second trimester abortions. (Jane Legendary Underground Feminist Abortion Service: Laura Kaplan) That’s an average of 2,750 abortions per year. It would only take 364 additional illegal abortion providers across the U.S. during those years to reach a total of 1,000,000 million abortions a year. Feasible? Oh yes!
Moreover what’s different today than pre-Roe, the French abortion pill, RU-486. Think of it permeating the black-market. Go to LIfe and Liberty for Women and click on Illegal Abortion Pictorial on the left and see what illegal abortion looks like.
Next, it is extremely naïve not to know that illegal abortion maims and kills women while not saving babies. at illegal
Third, anti-abortion organizations and persons lament the lack of the will of Supreme Court Justices to overturn Roe year after year and I’ll tell you why the Nebraska law won’t change that. Despite what any of the anti-abortion conservative Supreme Court Justice has said or written about abortion and the restrictions they have upheld, there is a very huge difference in what they’ve said and all the restrictions they’ve upheld and turning the clock back to pre-Roe where those images I referenced above would become front and center and worse a reality in American life again. I guarantee you that no Supreme Court Justice wants to leave a legacy in which they are known for being the deciding vote for the carnage illegal abortion would leave across America again or even a legacy of having voted with the majority who overturned Roe vs. Wade. Even the so-called “Personhood” ballot initiatives that will be on the 2010 ballots in many states will fail – in a face to face with Roe – to overturn Roe because no Supreme Court Justice wants their legacy tarnished by images like that I referenced for you and even worse.
In addition, there is the consequence that anti-abortion people would have to face to implement criminalizing abortion again. For decades now your side has said abortion is murder. If it is murder it is so under all circumstances including when the life of the woman is at risk. If abortion is murder there can be no exceptions. Moreover, there is the subject of punishment for murder. In our country we don’t just punish murderers (doctors when abortion is illegal) but we punish solicitors of murder and when abortion is criminalized again that would be women and teenagers who solicited the murder. Women and teens would face life in prison or in states like Texas execution by the state. What happens then to mothers and to the families? And you would believe that any Supreme Court Justice wants to leave behind that kind of legacy?
They know there’s a better way to reduce the number of abortions that won’t maim or kill women or ruin their legacy. That’s preventing the need for abortion – that’s reducing the number of unintended pregnancies.
Finally, when men who pro-create within or outside of marriage are found by every conceivable poll in America to be the primary care givers of America’s children, the primary parent taking responsibility for raising the children they create, then we’ll talk about a man’s choice being equal to that of women facing an unintended pregnancy.
Peggy Loonan, founder and executive director, Life and Liberty for Women
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