There is a rising chorus of threats against the rights of Americans to make decisions about their own bodies. Yes, I’m writing about abortion, not because I want to but because we now have a President and a Republican congressional majority who intend to impose their version of morality on every individual. It’s un-American. It’s dictatorial. It’s patriarchal. And they will absolutely do it unless freedom loving people stand up to them.
As preface, let’s acknowledge that consideration of abortion arises at a very difficult time in a woman’s life. Our question is, “Who will make the decision, the woman or the government?” Our judgments about her choice or her conscience are merely opinions. Who decides?
For historical perspective, abortion is recorded in the earliest human histories. Plato, for example, noted the ability of midwives to “…cause miscarriages if they think them desirable…” Herbs, drugs and physical procedures for abortion have been generally known and widely used in every culture. There is occasional documentation of moral or religious objections but historically, abortion was widely accepted without legal regulation or intervention. The greatest concern was the risk posed by procedures and toxic herbs used to induce abortions.
In colonial and early America, abortion was common practice. In the 19th century it was openly advertised and it was estimated that 20-25 percent of pregnancies were terminated by abortion. Birth control options were limited; and at least half of abortions were among married women who had children and didn’t want or couldn’t afford more.
American religious objections evolved into attempts to ban abortion in the late 19th century, spurred by opposition to the emerging women’s rights and suffrage movements. One notorious example of that radical religious movement is the Comstock Law of 1873. It banned publication and teaching (even in medical schools) of any information regarding birth control, abortion or prevention of venereal disease. Religious extremists had taken charge of the congress but clinics offering abortions continued to operate in many American cities. Abortion continued to be available (often illegally and often dangerously) across the nation until the 1973 Supreme Court decision that overturned anti-abortion laws.
Since that time, misogynists and religious zealots have been fighting to re-impose their will on pregnant women. Our Republican President and Congress are among them. They certainly have the right to believe and teach whatever they choose; but they have no right to limit a woman’s full control of her own body. That is where the battle line is drawn.
It is the nature of freedom that a person may do things – even make mistakes – which the majority of society disapproves. For example, we allow parents to feed their children so much junk food that they are grossly obese, diabetic and destined for a life of disability before they start school. We don’t put the parents in jail for it. Meanwhile religious zealots, obsessed with other people’s pelvic morality, insist on controlling one singular and personal aspect of a woman’s life – her pregnancy.
Among the zealots are those who put a velvet glove on the iron hand of tyranny by saying that they would allow abortion in cases of rape, or when the woman’s life would be endangered by the pregnancy. Their self-righteousness leaves them with no doubt that they know better what is right for her and her body than she does. They reserve to themselves the right to judge her motives and to require that if her sexual encounter was consensual then she will be denied an abortion. Can you think of any other issue where laws might delve so intensely into personal matters?
Invariably we wish that whatever problem caused a woman to decide for abortion had not occurred. With that in mind, we should acknowledge and celebrate the fact that the abortion rate in America is now at or near the lowest level in our history. That success is due in large part to good information about birth control and inexpensive access to it. But our nation is divided, even on that.
Abortions will continue because the reasons why some women choose them have not changed since Plato’s time. But if Republicans have their way, abortions won’t be legal and safe. If religious zealots are allowed to impose their will through force of law, they won’t stop with abortion, and you need not bother ask for whom the bell will toll. It will toll for freedom.