Yesterday the Star Tribune reported that the Minnesota State Legislature is debating a bill that would ban all abortions after 20 weeks unless the health of the mother is in danger. My first thought when reading the article was, "Didn't people vote in GOP candidates to reduce the size and scope of government?". I struggle with the topic of abortion because my unscientific view is that the decision should be between the female (and her support staff) and her doctor. Government should not dictate if abortion is legal or illegal.
That being said, taxpayer dollars should not be used to pay for abortions or anything that related to abortions. Why should the Government be involved in abortion decisions?
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This is an interesting debate. But, in my opinion, a sad one. I agree, government should not be involved in abortion decisions. But they are. And sadly, I feel we will often leave it up to them or try and use them to get our way with a topic such as abortion. A topic, that quite frankly should not be considered a "rights" debate, but instead a debate about life - life of the child, life of the mother, life of the father, and the family (many are affected by a decision such as this).
ReplyDeleteThose can be, and often are one and the same, I realize that. And I also realize me being a man makes my statement that it shouldn't be "rights" issue very convenient - it "doesn't affect me". But - let's say it's my daughter who gets an abortion. Does that not affect me? I know, I know - I'm not the one carrying the child. I'm not a parent. But does it not affect me?
I guess what I'm trying to say, is this topic should be considered more personal, and less political. The fact that many of us who don't agree with abortion have made it political saddens me. We spin our wheels with trying to win some "war", and neglect having the real, often hard, conversations over this issue with those in our circle of influence. They CAN be had with respect, but it's so much easier to lobby government to try and fight our battles than to put ourselves out there and share our thoughts on heavy topics such as this.
Most likely both are happening - someone lobbying government about abortion, on either side of the issue, is also very likely willing to have these kinds of converstations. But are we considering what the person on the other side of the table has to say, or has gone or is going through? My hope is that we do more of that, especially on a topic such as this.
Tedtunes - I agree with you. The GOP and Dem's are being lobbied heavily to either pass legislation banning or not banning abortion. What these legislature's need to say is that abortion, like other social/religious deals, are not in the realm of responsibility of the government. That being said, I do think that some regulation of the abortion market needs to be done to ensure the procedure is performed in a manner that does not put the mother's physical health in danger. Mental health side is not something the government can nor can anyone regulate nor should it be.
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