There’s a sort of … irony? … bittersweetness? … to talking about the almost certain death of Roe v. Wade on Mother’s Day. In part because the increasingly restrictive anti-abortion laws proliferating in state legislatures — including our own — are so focused on the unborn that they completely disregard mothers.
These laws don’t account for the woman who wants to be a mom but can’t afford to now, or who wants to be a mom but not to her rapist’s baby. They don’t account for the woman who wants this baby so much but knows her child won’t survive for more than a few hours outside the womb because of fetal abnormalities. They don’t account for the woman whose dream is to become a mother, but if she carries this pregnancy to term, she’ll be so damaged she’ll never be able to have kids again.
There are so many faults in the pro-birth — sorry, “pro-life” — movement that we don’t have the space to enumerate them all. But root fault is this: Because it is not a choice they would make for themselves, it is not a choice anyone should be able to make.
That has ironically become the hallmark of the Republican Party. The GOP touts that it’s the party of limited government and individual rights, but it increasingly forces government into people’s bedrooms and personal decisions, never mind that the majority of Americans support access to abortion. They are constantly and consistently rolling back individuals’ rights. (Don’t even get us started on the three justices who lied to Congress about leaving Roe alone.)
If Roe v. Wade is to be overturned (at which point corpses will have greater autonomy than living women), then the “pro-life” supporters need to step up.
Every pro-life politician in Washington, D.C., needs to immediately get on board with reestablishing the child tax credit and making it permanent, because unprepared people now forced into parenthood are going to need all the help they can get. Congress also needs to establish a federal minimum paid parental leave (FMLA is unpaid), because new parents and baby need time to adjust after a birth, but they need income, too. Since government is forcing virtually every baby conceived to be born, parents will need every bit of support government can give them.
While it’s at it, Congress needs to require all insurances — including insurance provided through religious organizations — to cover all forms of contraception, including male birth control. If the government won’t allow people to terminate a pregnancy, then it should provide them with every possible tool to prevent unwanted conception.
Finally, every single adult who supports overturning Roe v. Wade needs to immediately contact the Department of Health and Human Resources or one of a variety of private agencies to become a foster parent. West Virginia alone has nearly 7,000 kids in the foster care system, and that number will increase as the abandoned and neglected children born in the wake of Roe’s dissolution enter the system.
Consider yourself “pro-life”? Then prove it. You made sure these children are born. Now you get to make sure they are taken care of.
