I am no fan of the DOC, liberals, nor the neoliberal establishment that has absolutely ransacked this country—and that includes the GOP. I like the people in America, but our government is a complete garbage heap from the state level upward, and the dual party costume show that goes along with it is just tiresome. So let’s leave that dumpster fire alone for a minute.
Restricting a conversation about abortion to one of human life and its sanctity makes dialogue virtually impossible. Aside from the death toll for women that rises when abortion is made illegal, what happens when 10s of thousands of unwanted children, or children that can’t be afforded, are born? They grow up without enough food, or they’re abused, or they’re kicked out of the house or dropped off at foster homes.
So yeah, the question of letting states make abortion illegal or not has to do with more than just “should the federal government be making us kill babies.” How about the other facets of the issue: “should we be increasing crime rates”, “should we be increasing homelessness”, “should we be making more incest babies” (looking at you, Ohio. Sure it’s a small fraction of a percentage but it’s still absolutely abhorrent) or maybe “ should we be creating a generation of unwanted kids who will cost us a shitload of money in taxes later in life for a variety of reasons”.
And then there’s the fact that abortions do not occur in a vacuum. They occur in context, and whether or not people have abortions then goes on to have impacts. Fact: most of the people who have an abortion either already have a child or go on to have one later in life. So, what are the ripple effects of those moms not having abortions?
For example, in the case of a mom who has enough money to feed and clothe one kid but two would make it impossible: if she has the second kid, both of them are screwed. This happens all the time. I mean, in this all-too-real situation, at least the first kid could have had a good life with enough food and a more stable living situation.
Or what about another common situation, where someone does want to have a kid but can’t afford to have one yet? When that mom gets pregnant before she has the resources and she can’t have an abortion, 2 things happen. 1) a kid is born into a world where he can’t be supported. 2) the kid that mom would have had later in life never gets to live. On a practical level, wouldn’t you rather have a kid who has a home, food, and a mom who can support them than you would have a kid and a mom whose lives become absolute garbage?
Abortion is incredibly serious, sad, and there is no solution that doesn’t create suffering. It’s just a question of what kind of suffering you want to create in the world.