If you have lived at any point during the past 35 years or so, you have probably been asked at least once for your opinion of abortion. Here’s an answer to that question I’d like to see more often: “Who cares? I’m so over that crap.” Or, at the very least, “I’m pro-______. So, how ’bout them Red Wings?”
Unfortunately for President Obama, the University of Notre Dame wasn’t about to let him get away with saying anything like that at yesterday’s commencement ceremony. (Whose bright idea was it to hold one of those on a Sunday? The only decent thing to do on a Sunday is sleep. And maybe eat brunch.) If you forgot that it was actually a commencement ceremony he was attending, only the robe would have been a giveaway. Granted, if he did avoid the topic of abortion entirely, he would have left everyone demanding a redo. Over a period of weeks, a minority of devout Catholics turned it into the real issue of the afternoon.
“[H]e supports abortion rights but says the procedure should be rare.” Watching CNN yesterday, I saw one panelist say that this position was fundamentally hypocritical. At first glance, perhaps, but Obama is no doubt aware of the consequences of rolling back access to abortion. Any Brazilians want to comment?
I shall now take a moment to list three things that may reduce the abortion debate, if we must have it at all:
1. Artificial wombs. This may seem unholy to some, but consider the logic: instead of aborting, a woman could have the fetus extracted from her body to be raised in one of these wombs, and then it can be adopted by someone else. It would also solve the problem of delivery being dangerous to the mother’s safety.
2. More sterilization. Because so many doctors are convinced that childfree people are incapable of making their minds up for good, I can’t get Essure at the age of 19. Some do change their mind, but assuming they’ve agreed not to sue the doctor for not refusing them – or whatever it is the docs are scared of – why should the rest of us suffer? Shouldn’t this be considered age discrimination?
3. The sensible conscience clause. Some of my feminist friends will disagree with me on this, but on the flipside, doctors should have the right to refuse to perform certain procedures – as long as they make patients aware of this from the very beginning so as not to slow them down, which would result in late-trimester abortions.
Beyond that, Obama is right when he says that both sides of the abortion debate will be unable to agree completely. I just wish he could have found a tactful way to tell them to lay down their arms and move on.
