5 Ways Conservatives Betray the Unborn
Republicans are the party of mass abortion
There is nothing more evil than when groups declare themselves to be allies even as they steadfastly work against the interests of those they claim to defend. Abortion is one of the fundamental issues that determines how people in the United States cast their vote. The truth is that every voter in the country wants pregnant women to have the best opportunity to give birth to a healthy and happy child. The disconnect on opinions regarding reproductive rights comes from differing perspectives on how that goal might best be achieved.
Our society often takes a simplistic view of abortion and fails to recognize how many Republican policies place unborn children directly in harm’s way. The Republican focus is entirely based on taking punitive measures and leveraging the legal system to control human behavior. This position lends itself to the kind of political soundbite that can help win an election, but it fails to make any meaningful contribution to actually resolving the issue.
A much more effective method of protecting unborn children is to adopt an expanded focus that considers heath and socioeconomic factors that come into play before, during, and after the moment of birth. In this article I’ll explore multiple ways that conservative philosophies are detrimental to the well-being of unborn children.
1. A singular focus on an ineffective legal response
The conservative position on abortion begins and ends with Roe v. Wade. The only action they ever take is to pressure our legal system and law enforcement agencies to physically prevent abortion. They bemoan the fact that the life-saving procedure is legal, and they refuse to embrace proactive positions that could reduce the number of abortions.
Scientific evidence shows that the conservative position has not been proven to be effective.
A 2016 analysis published in the Lancet finds that the average abortion rate in countries where the procedure is outlawed is 37 per 1,000 women, compared to 34 per 1,000 in countries where abortion is legal. In other words, scientists found no evidence that anti-abortion laws do anything to reduce the number of actual procedures women get. — Anna Almendrala, HuffPost.com
For some reason, conservatives are committed to a perspective that has shown to actually increase the number of abortions. This is not a pro-life position.
2. Denial of proven, positive action
Conservatives often demonstrate a stubborn refusal to recognize the results of scientific inquiry. However, this does not absolve them of insisting on a course of action that fails to stop, and in some cases even exacerbates, the issues they wish to prevent. The simple fact is that the only evidence based method for reducing abortion rates is to provide women with appropriate education and better access to health care. Republican proposals do the exact opposite.
It speaks to the lack of sincerity of conservative anti-abortion activists that they are so focused on a legal approach to abortion prevention that they refuse to even consider other, scientifically proven actions they could take which would reduce abortion rates. They are content to wait out the legal issue sitting on their hands and howling in anger, rather than dedicate themselves to labors which would actually help the community.
Conservatives are defiantly focused on a flawed course of action, and they refuse to recognize or embrace a mature position that would actually serve their stated ends. Despite their self-perception, their stubborn blindness and inherent selfishness only serves to contribute to the proliferation of abortion.
3. Dedication to limiting access to health care
The easier access women have to health care, the lower the abortion rate. Additionally, the health and well being of infants extends to both prenatal and postnatal care. Stripping individuals of health care limits the access pregnant women have to the resources they need in order to best provide for the health of their babies as they develop.
It is unconscionable how steadfast conservatives have been in their dedication to limiting access to health care. Early in his presidency Donald Trump had the opportunity to expand and improve the Affordable Care Act, but instead he elected to strip it of many effective provisions. No effort was made to improve health care access, and the result is that many vulnerable individuals now have to endure markedly inferior treatment.
Conservative attacks on health care represent an overt and direct assault on the unborn which lead to many preventable deaths that occur before, during and after pregnancy. A more humane and moral position would be to work to ensure all people at every level of our society have access to the highest quality health care possible.
4. Attacks on the environment
For babies to be born happy and healthy requires access to clean air, clean water, proper diet, and many other environmental factors. Protecting the environment, therefore, should form a fundamental component of our perspective on childbirth.
No part of the conservative philosophy on abortion contains a commitment to ensuring pregnant mothers have the right to breathe fresh air or drink untainted water. In fact, conservatives often adopt a haughty and dismissive attitude against proactive actions taken to ensure a livable environment.
Conservative actions that directly lead to the continued poisoning of our planet amount to an agenda of global abortion. It’s blatantly hypocritical for conservatives to push through legislation which results in the exposure of developing fetuses to greater amounts of tainted air and poisoned water, only to turn around and claim they are champions of the unborn.
5. Commitment to war
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. — President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Chance for Peace speech
Republican president Eisenhower’s words spoken in 1953, are a testament to how much the Republican party has descended into immorality. Whenever conservatives win the presidency, they inflate the military budget. Today some estimates suggest that US military spending exceeds one trillion dollars.
How can conservatives justify their hypocrisy? They froth at the mouth about abortion, but fail to recognize how the military-industrial complex manufactures weapons of mass abortion daily. Whenever a bomb is dropped on a target, there are inevitably civilian casualties. The stain inflicted from the taking of these lives is no less of a condemnation than any other. Yet conservatives are the first to howl with glee upon hearing reports of destructive, lethal military action.
If protection of life is truly their position, why are they so steadfast in their commitment to diverting so many resources to maintain and expand an advanced technological mechanism of death? There can simply be no consolidation of these two opposing positions. If you seek to work for the advancement of life, you must advocate that social resources are spent on humanitarian efforts instead of weaponry.
Consistent disrespect for human life
Conservatives should not be allowed to misrepresent themselves as defenders of the unborn when so many of their political positions constitute a direct assault on human life. They attempt to disguise their inhumanity by focusing on the legal aspect of abortion which represents an ineffective and impractical means of bringing about any positive change.
They obfuscate their contributions to deplorable behavior by adopting an attitude of sanctimonious semi-hysteria which they claim is rooted in desire to protect the vulnerable. However, they take no practical action in pursuit of that objective in any other arena. We should never allow conservatives to misrepresent themselves as champions of the unborn.
Their surrounding actions disqualify any argument they could make to defend their sincerity.
Republicans are the party of mass abortion
It is within the power of our society to allocate our resources in such a way that we can ensure all pregnant women are entitled to education, health care, and a safe environment. Adopting this philosophy is the only way to act as a true champion of the unborn.
At every turn, conservatives oppose, sometimes violently oppose, putting such proposals into action. A political stance dedicated to challenging the legality of abortion does not absolve the contributions conservatives make to the proliferation of anti-life objectives in every other fundamental position of their platform.
If you truly wish to act in the interests of the unborn, you have no other option than to vote for liberal political positions. This should be self-evident to anyone who truly wishes to protect the interests of the most vulnerable members of our community.
