Supporting the Separation of Church and State
Posts Tagged ‘Anti-Choice’
Abortion Does Not Decline When Illegial
Categorized: Politics
Tagged: Anti-Choice, Feminism, Reproductive Rights
Recently I wrote a story about the tragic deaths of over 80 women directly caused by Nicaragua’s total ban on abortion. This is an important story and I highly suggest that everyone check it out. Those women died because of the religious right’s war on women’s rights to control their own bodies.
I learned today while reading a great piece by Melissa McEwan at Shakespeare’s Sister that making abortions illegal does not reduce their numbers. Stop and think about that for a second. The central argument for taking away a woman’s right to choose is that it will reduce abortions and save lives. Now that we know this is wrong want to guess how many anti-choicers will change their mind? I’m betting 0 as they are not exactly an open minded crowd.
Now, after reading the results of this 8 year study we find that this whole argument is worthless. It bears saying again. MAKING ABORTIONS ILLEGAL DOES NOT REDUCE THEIR NUMBERS. The only thing these fanatical right wingers will ever accomplish by robbing these women of their rights is to make abortions less safe and more degrading. This is backed up by the research which shows that worldwide 70,000 women die each year due to unsafe abortions.
So while it is not possible to prevent abortions by making them illegal there are some things that will help to reduce the need for abortions. This study found that poverty and lack of access to health care were the most common reasons for abortions. Both of these causes can be greatly reduced by our government but the religious right is opposed to them. I find it very hypocritical to say you want to prevent something while at the same time opposing everything that would accomplish that very thing.
Maybe one of you all will be able to clue me in on why the religious right says they want to save lives yet a) opposes all social services that would reduce the financial need for abortion; b) keep pushing the bullshit abstinence only programs which all studies show to be expensive and worthless; c) push for children to be born then promptly oppose any measures to provide them with adequate health care causing infant mortality rates to soar; and d) fail to care about the tens of thousands of women who would die as a result of making abortion illegal.
What will happen if……
Categorized: Republicans
Tagged: Anti-Choice, Christianity, Face the Nation, James Dobson, Mitt Romney, Reproductive Rights, Rudy Giuliani, Tony Perkins
James Dobson abandons Giuliani and supports a third party candidate? He’s loud about his dissatisfaction that Giuliani is leading the Republican field. He hates the fact that Giuliani has policies that are closer to Clinton than to social conservatives. He will only accept an anti-choice candidate. He doesn’t trust that Giuliani will appoint Justices that are conservative, based on Giuliani’s record that’s probably a good bet. So James Dobson threatens promises to break free from the Republican party if Giuliani is elected the nominee.
What will this mean for the GOP? Considering that exit polls on election day in 2004 showed that 22% of voters labeled themselves Evangelical Christian, it would probably secure a Democratic win. That is, if Dobson could muster enough of them to defy their ingrained Republican voting tradition.
I was watching Face the Nation on Sunday and the guest was Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council. He appeared to back peddle a bit on Dobson’s statement by stating, “What we said last week was more of a proclamation of principle rather than a declaration of intent.” He then stated that “If the party chooses to break its commitment to creating a culture of life, we’re not going to go in that direction with the party.” during a conference call on Thursday with reporters. To me this sounds pretty much like an intention.
On Face the Nation, Perkins went on to say that the Conservative movement is comparable to a three legged stool the Fiscal Conservatives, the Foreign Policy Conservatives, and the Social Conservatives. He implored the other 2/3 of the party to throw their support to the Social Conservatives and their anti-choice agenda. Without all three legs they will “impale” themselves. Thursday, Perkins stated that he believed roughly half of the Religious Right would vote for Giuliani anyway but that’s still a lot of votes to lose.
So what will this mean for the Democrats? Probably a bigger win over the Republican nominee. Unless, that is, Mitt Romney starts climbing faster. He appears to be the Evangelicals’ favorite at this time with Perkins stating Thursday, “he’s one of the strongest on our issues. It’s true he has had a change of position on these issues. I do believe they’re genuine. I do not see him going back.”
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