For some reason, I have decided to write about it. I would no doubt receive less shots and be less battered if I took a stroll through a minefield. The right to life versus the right to choose, there is no middle ground. While it seems like two choices, there are probably three. For those committed to the right to choose there is no compromise. Ohers committed to the right to life, also, offer no middle ground. I am certain that there is percentage of the population that wishes that all of these arguments would stop, and we would just be told what to do.
Laws are being enacted in several states that either limit abortions or, as in Alabama, virtually eliminate abortions. These new laws are or will be challenged in the courts by right to choose groups. The right to life folks welcome this hoping that one or more of these cases make it to the Supreme Court where the conservative majority on the court will overturn Roe v. Wade. This 1973 case that basically affirmed that a woman had the right, under the fourteenth amendment, to have an abortion. There was plenty of debate leading up to his monumental decision and that debate has continued forward resulting in the flurry of laws, lawsuits, and debate we are embroiled in today.
I am not sure where I stand on this issue. I can argue for either side. But I am sure about one thing if abortions are banned. People who really want abortions will still get to them.
Before Roe v. Wade, people were getting abortions. Richer folks would have them in doctor’s office. Of course, no physician ever “officially” performed an abortion. Physicians would do an exam or a D&C (dilation and curettage) and a pregnancy that was never officially diagnosed was eliminated. In the case of poorer folks, pregnancies were ended essentially by midwives who performed the service outside the medical establishment. In this latter case, the cost will be disproportional and the health risk will be higher.
There is another difference between 1973 and today. Today, there are percription pills that induce abortions. No doubt they will have to be banned as well if abortions are ever banned. Again, I have no doubt that these pills will still be available but only on the black market. If the pills are legally made anywhere in the world, they will make their way to this country. There will probably even be websites dedicated to providing them. If they are not hard or too costly to make, black market labs will pop up in this country.
In summation, all of this legislation we are currently buzzing about and the legal cases that will be stories on news sites and channels over the next few years may result in a change of the legal. The issue will certainly be factor in the 2020 elections. Either way, I am not sure what the impact on the incidence rates of abortion will be. What was once underground will indeed become underground again.
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