Man Bites Blog

“If you don’t like abortion, don’t have one!”

We’ve all heard that slogan before. Pro-lifers know that it elides the question that abortion and society’s acceptance of it is an injustice that must be confronted, but it is impossible to deny the slogan’s appeal. You don’t like abortion. Bully for you. But why should that impact my behavior?

But as the Stupak amendment debate has shown, the abortion lobby is not content with those who dislike abortion simply refraining from it. No, we must all be implicated in it — we must support those who have abortions, and our tax dollars must go to pay for it.

It’s amusing to read the apocalyptic language surrounding this amendment — you would swear it required all women to be artificially inseminated on their 18th birthdays, and every two years thereafter until they turn 30, and give birth each time.

Looking at the post I linked yesterday, this tells us a lot of what we need to know:

They could, in theory, pay out of pocket for a “rider” that would extend their coverage to include abortion. But Stupak-Pitt foes say the rider option is a charade, because most insurance companies won’t even offer it. Businesses don’t like to sell products that don’t have a market, and the market for something like an abortion rider—essentially a plan for an unplanned pregnancy—is notoriously slim.

So, let me get this straight:

• Society’s acceptance of abortion is such that the failure to include it in health care is a travesty.
• There is no market for abortion riders.

What this also ignores is that there is absolutely nothing stopping all the people who are currently tearing up about how poor women are having their rights taken away from establishing a fund to pay for those abortions. If the idea of a poor woman not being able to afford an abortion is really such a heart-rendering issue, then there should be no shortage of willing donors to help them out.

But that’s misses the point, of course. Then you and I aren’t paying for it. We are not coerced into being implicated. That’s no fun.

I’ve been trying to come up with a snappy slogan of my own to capture the irony of those who claimed that the abortion rights movement was all about being left alone now going into shock at the thought that the government won’t pay for abortions. Maybe, “Like abortion? Start your own fund to pay for them.” But it’s not quite snappy enough, and doesn’t quite echo the original.

Suggestions welcome.

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