Now that the election is over I feel I can bring this up in an apolitical way.
One of the big "points" to the Presidential Election was Mitt Romney's stance on abortion.
Again and again we were hit with ads from Barack Obama and his supporters that Romney wanted to outlaw all abortions...even in the cases of Rape, Incest, or When the Mother's Life Is At Risk.
And then we got hit with ads from Romney and his ilk that said basically, "No no no! Mitt Romney is against abortion EXCEPT in the cases of Rape, Incest, or When the Mother's Life Is At Risk."
Now, to be absolutely clear here: I AM A MALE. I DO NOT HAVE A UTERUS OR ACCOMPANYING FEMALE GENITALIA. Which means that any thoughts or opinions I have about the topic of abortion are my own and are not to be taken as advocacy for any political: view, party or agency.
Now, as I understand it, one of the big objections to abortions is that people don't want abortion to be used as birth control. Meaning that instead of the pill or condoms or what have you, a woman has indiscriminate sex and just goes for a trip to the abortion clinic if she gets pregnant. I can see the point. It sounds like a logical argument to me. Abortion NOT being a primary form of birth control? Not a problem for me. (Ya know, as a concept. As I said, no uterus. Getting an abortion isn't something I have to worry about.)
So here's my thing. I'm Not Pro-Life. I'm also not Pro-Choice. If I'm anything, I'm Pro-Language. And both the charge against Romney and his campaign's response have some Bad. @#*!ing. Language.
There seem to be three (3) categories of abortions that are to be considered "okay". 1) Rape. 2) Incest. 3) When the Mother's Life Is At Risk. Pro-whatever, those three situations are times when an abortion is "alright" (Ya know, in general. There are always the Pro-Life fanatics who say, "No Abortions Ever" but I'm just dealing with the Moderates and the "Choice" crowd.)
So, let's take a look at those three categories.
1) Rape. Now I think all reasonable peoples will agree that any woman who has had Unconsensual Sex That Results In Pregnancy should be allowed to get an abortion. Actually, I think all reasonable people would agree that any woman who has had Unconsensual Sex That Results In Pregnancy should get therapy, a hug and a cookie. Maybe two hugs... Rape is Bad. Let me say that again, Rape is Bad. One more time, for the people in the cheap seats, RAPE IS BAD! Nobody should EVER be forced to have Unconsensual Sex. Ever. And in the unfortunate case where a woman is forced to have Unconsensual Sex That Results In Pregnancy, I think forcing her to carry to term and then deliver a child that she had no choice in conceiving is pretty @#*!ing Evil. Just about as Evil as forcing the conception in the first place.
So you get raped, you get knocked up, you wanna abort? No problem.
2) Incest...let me get back to you.
3) When the Mother's Life Is At Risk. This one is, in my view, another "no-brainer." Kid'll live but Mom is toast? Again, I think all reasonable peoples would agree that forcing a woman to basically commit suicide for the sake of her unborn child is Evil. It's a tragedy to be sure. Another one of those therapy, a hug and a cookie situations. But another instance where a woman should be allowed to have an abortion.
So to recap: abortions for Rape victims and for When the Mother's Life Is At Risk. Perfectly reasonable. Perfectly logical.
And that brings me back to:
2) Incest. See...here's my problem. We've already established that Rape means you can get an abortion. It doesn't matter WHO commits the Rape. If a woman is Raped, she can have the abortion. Right? We're all on the same page?
So why is Incest on the list?
I mean I understand that Incest is wrong. Check that, Wrong. But if we accept the premise that abortion shouldn't be used as birth control, and we ALSO accept the premise that Unconsensual Sex That Results In Pregnancy (Rape,) is a situation where an abortion is tolerable, then why are we talking about Incest?
Rape is already on the list. A woman gets Raped by her father, it's still Rape. (And Wrong.) So any pregnancy that resulted is covered. Why specifically call out pregnancies that are the result of close blood relatives getting it on?
A woman has sex with her brother. She's not Raped by her brother. She CHOOSES to have sexual intercourse with her male sibling. She gets knocked up. Why is her abortion okay? The lady down the street who slept with some random (non-relative) guy and got pregnant (which won't kill her,) can't get an abortion.
(Presuming that either the Supreme Court overturns Roe V. Wade, or a new law is passed that the only abortions that are acceptable are the Romney Trilogy of: Rape, Incest, or When the Mother's Life Is At Risk.)
I mean if we (as a society) say "That the only choice when it comes to abortion is choose a different form of birth control or choose not to have sex." Why is there a special group that gets to choose to have sex and still gets abortions?
WTF?
That makes NO sense to me. "We're gonna make it so that only a tiny unfortunate minority of women can have abortions, oh and the kinky freaks." Where's the logic?
If a woman CHOOSES to have sex with a close blood relative and her pill didn't work, or the condom broke, or their "rhythm" was off, or whatever... why should she get access to an abortion when another woman who had the same incident with a Non-relative can't?
I just don't get it.
I mean, sure, a woman is the unfortunate victim of an incestuous Rape. She gets knocked up. Yeah, I think she should have no trouble getting an abortion. Because she was RAPED. Not because it was Incest. WHO Raped her shouldn't come into it. Rape is Wrong and no woman should be forced to have the kid. But don't tell me that "we're gonna eliminate abortion as birth control" and then say "unless you and your relative choose to get nasty."
Bull$&*^!
Unless... Are we FORCING the women who choose to bang their uncles to get abortions?
I mean that...that... What the @#*!
I mean if you take it as a fundamental principle that abortions are bad things that should only happen in extreme circumstances, to then say that one of those circumstances is a time when the woman getting the abortion doesn't get to choose to have it...that's worse then Rape.
That's just sixteen different kinds of @#*!ed up.
I just...I mean I kind of ASSUME that nobody is saying that anybody HAS to get an abortion whether they want it or not. But then why include Incest?
I don't get it. I. Just. Don't. Get. It.
I can see "slandering" you opponent with the distinction, but why would anybody include Incest as it's own separate category?
That's just dumb.
Dumb!
Bad @#*!ing language man...
