Abortion debate might have just taken a huge leap

Echidne's comments on the debate opened up a train of thought that started during the debates for me.

On the positive side, Kerry did come out for some issues that are important to women and he handled the difficult questions fairly well. Compare the discussions of the so-called partial birth abortion by Kerry and Bush. Kerry used the example of a teenager raped by her father to show how difficult it is to make laws that are based on all-or-nothing thinking (in this case about parental notification of a minor's abortion). Bush simply repeated that one is either for the partial birth abortion ban or against it. This shows a lack of understanding about human pain. I don't want a president who can't relate to the anguish of a teenager having to ask the rapist for a permission to get an abortion.

I imagine this won't amount to much, but you never know. When Bush blatantly ignored Kerry's challenge to deal with incest victims and women whose lives are put in peril by pregnancies they are forbidden to terminate, even the cats gasped. It's really beyond the pale in this country's discourse to dismiss the concerns of rape victims and dying women, though I suppose it's understandable coming from a man who will dismiss the hopes of everyone suffering from Parkinson's, diabetes, paralysis and Alzheimer's in order to score political points. But the connection between a few stem cells and cures for diseases most of us thought would never be cured takes a leap of imagination. It doesn't take much of one for most of us to see our own selves as needing some access to abortion in case of emergency.

The ugly truth is that the only reason that the right has managed to get so many people either backing abortion bans or at bare minimum indifferent to them is that they have spread the notion that abortion is something that Other People do--sluts, welfare mothers, snooty over-educated skinny white bitches who need to drop out of college or their journalism careers and be doting mothers like god and man intended. "I just don't think it should be birth control" is the battle cry of most anti-choicers you will hear, conjuring up pictures of world-weary black women hauling three children to the clinic while getting their fourth abortions because welfare won't pay for another child. Or pictures of spoiled rich girls who need to learn a lesson scheduling their abortions between a trip to the masseuse and a manicure. The rest of us, you see, are hard-working people who plan ahead and don't slut around and use contraception.

But Bush was speaking the language of the scary right-wingers, the ones who aren't just against abortion but against your right to terminate a pregnancy. I know, to us there's no difference. But to huge amounts of anti-choice voters, there is. Terminating a pregnancy isn't abortion, which is "convienence". Terminating a pregnancy is a difficult decision that you make because you have to, not because you want to.

Bush was talking in the language of the hard right, but sadly I think he was still functioning under the same belief that abortions are what Other People have paradigm. To someone of his privilege, everyone is pretty much Other People. Women of his class never have "abortions". They have every euphemism in the book, but never "abortions". There's no reason to have abortions in the case of rape, incest, or to save a woman's life, because those are never, ever called abortions where he comes from.

The rest of us don't have that privilege. Oh sure, we use euphemism, too. I have personally heard plenty of politically anti-choice people start talking about "getting rid of it" when a girl became most unfortunately pregnant. But we know that no matter what we call it, it goes on the insurance bill as an abortion. And so to speak of banning abortions even in the cases of rape, incest or the mother's health, well, people are bound to start looking around their living rooms. Other People might use abortion as birth control, but for the rest of us, well, it's possible to see that abortion might save Mom's life. And while few of us could really say that incest is an issue, we can easily see ourselves supporting a young girl in our community who needed to escape that situation.

I'm not saying that Bush and Kerry's statements tonight will cause anyone to change their overall opinions on abortion itself. But I think Bush shot himself in the foot by pandering to a small, zealous minority that holds the belief that all female sexuality is worthy of punishment and not just some, which is what most people believe. Women particularly who watched this debate are likely to walk away with a sick feeling in their stomachs. I will say here what I've told friends who have female friends or relatives who are fence-sitting--Bush has made it clear that he will take away your right to an abortion, even in the case of rape, illness or even death. That shouldn't be hanging over your head every time you leave the house, make love to a man, or even deliberately get pregnant only to find out that a sickness is causing you to choose between terminating the pregnancy or losing your life.