© Leslie Blanchard
As hard as it is to picture- even the worst among us were children at some point. Don't make yourself ill trying to picture Rush Limbaugh, or G.Gorden Liddy as kids- but they were. My personal thoughts and beliefs about abortion are not relevant. But my thoughts on the government telling me or any other woman what do to with their bodies, their health, are relevant, and personal. My mother got pregnant with me when she was 40 and my Dad was 45. He told her that she was nuts- that she was going through "the change". Later when he found out she was actually pregnant he tried desperately to get her to have an abortion. Now, I'm 52 years old- so this was way before Roe v. Wade. But my Mom had had 7 miscarriages between my brother and me and she wanted to keep the baby. Am I glad that she decided to keep me? Yes- for 2 very different reasons. One is obvious- I wouldn't be sitting at my computer writing this if she hadn't. But the second reason is that she would have had to break the law, and seriously place her health and safety at risk by going to some back alley hideout to end the pregnancy.
Those on the right, and the extreme right condone the killing of a Doctor at his church this weekend, because he performed abortions they did not agree with. Wouldn't it be less reprehensible if his mother had simply aborted him? What about Charlie Manson- who's mother was unable to care for him and little Charlie was raised by the state until he aged out of the system. We all know what he became. For 40 years there have been many chanting for his death. But we the people are actually responsible for his birth and his childhood.
Why is a fetus sacred and a child is not? Once it's born- it's no longer worth saving? If a poor woman decides to have an abortion because she knows that she can not raise it, because the child would have all the cards stacked against it. Or that it may end up in the state system of warehoused kids that we all support (poorly) with our taxes. So she makes a responsible decision and aborts the kid. Right Wing Christians call her a MURDERER. The baby daddy never gets called a murderer, a blight on society, in fact he's never in the equation at all.
Now let's look at the other side of the coin. She can't stand the thought of abortion. She wants the child, she knows it will be hard, that she may have to work 2 jobs, she has no husband, but she wants her baby. So she gives birth, remember she's poor- so we pay for the birth. The woman tries, she works hard, she doesn't use drugs, she loves her child. The baby gets sick, Mom has to take the child to the ER because she has no health care insurance. Again, if (and that's a big IF) the child gets treated, we taxpayers foot the bill. Mom keeps working, but food prices, diaper prices, rent, all rise. She's way below poverty level, she turns to the state for help. And what do right wing Christians call her? Welfare Mom. Again, the baby Daddy never gets called a Welfare bum-he's never in the equation at all.
The woman has two choices- to go through life being thought a murderer, or a welfare mom. Ask yourself- who'd be the first people to bash her no matter what choice she made? Ask yourself- what would you do?
Our government over the past 9 years has had a slogan of "No child left behind". But plenty of children were left behind in Hurricane Katrina. In 2006 those under the age of 18 were the most likely to be impoverished. In 2006, the poverty rate for minors in the United States was the highest in the industrialized world, with 21.9% of all minors and 30% of African American minors living below the poverty threshold. Moreover, the standard of living for those in the bottom 10% was lower in the U.S. than other developed nations except the United Kingdom, which has the lowest standard of living for impoverished children in the developed world. From State of Working America 2006/07.
Yet the same people that sit in their churches praying every Sunday, while one of their fellows slaughters a good man, a Doctor in his church, these people refute or refuse to believe the truth of these numbers. They still sing the Capitalist party line that everyone in Amerika has an equal shot, a fair chance to become the next Bill Gates or Michael Dell. And while some part of all of us knows this isn't true they are able to overcome truth in exchange for propaganda. They have a problem in their thought synapses , they refuse the logical truth that in order for someone to be extremely wealthy- many others have to be extremely poor.
If we deny a woman the right to choose, if the Government can legislate this- then they must also be willing to care for those children until adulthood. And we taxpayers, those of us that pay 99% of the taxes, not the top 1 percent who pay little or no taxes will be paying for a "moral" Christian belief. Whether we agree or disagree we- pay for the substandard lives they must live.
I must admit I'm Buddhist- I do not understand Christianity- because it is illogical. I'm also a socialist but I think the dream of Socialism is better than living in the Imperialist Capitalistic Dictatorship we have become.
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