Here’s a challenge: Find me a speech by a leading member of the Republican party that doesn’t include the words “limited government.” Good luck.
If limited government is considered such a serious principle in the minds of conservatives, one question still remains: Why do they care so much about what goes on in your uterus?
Just recently, North Dakota’s Republican governor, Jack Dalrymple, signed a law banning nearly all abortions starting when a fetal heartbeat is detectable by a transvaginal ultrasound, which usually comes around six weeks into pregnancy, before many women even know that they are pregnant. Of course, this is clearly in violation of the 40-year-old Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade, which bans any law restricting abortion before fetal viability, generally considered to be about 24 weeks into pregnancy.
But North Dakota is not alone. According to data compiled by the Guttmacher Institute, states all across the country — mainly those controlled by Republicans — are trying to chip away at abortion rights. As of April 1, 32 states prohibited the use of public funds for the purpose of providing abortions, 26 states required a woman to wait a specified period of time before obtaining an abortion and 38 states required some form of parental consent.
For a party so concerned with limiting the role that government plays in our lives, those are some pretty burdensome restrictions. But despite the fact that they contradict such a precious conservative principle, most anti-abortionists will tell you they favor these laws for a very serious reason: Abortion is nothing more than murder.
Which makes it questionable as to why most Republicans will say they oppose all abortions except in cases of rape, incest or when the life of the mother is in danger. That’s like saying you’re against murder, unless the victim was really, really mean and no one liked him. We all recall when Senate candidates Todd Akin and Richard Murdoch were lambasted for publicly stating that they oppose abortions in all cases, even rape — but their position, however vile, was actually far more morally defensible than that of most other pro-lifers.
Whether it’s regarding limited government or murder, the conservative position on abortion virtually always fails a moral consistency test. In fact, we see much more radical movements regarding abortion from Republican legislatures across the country than we do with guns, economics, criminal justice or nearly any other issue. What is it about abortion?
As it turns out, the issue of abortion embodies almost every aspect of what conservatives hate about liberals. Whether it’s the freedom-loving, casual attitude toward sex; the judicial activism of the Warren Court that not only brought us Roe but many other liberal, hallmark cases; or the fact that the decision came in the early 1970s, just at the time when conservatives were pretty fed up with the whole liberal-’60s thing — this is all enough to make someone like Rick Santorum cringe from even hearing the word “abortion.”
Let’s be honest here: It’s pretty absurd that one of America’s most dominant political issues deals with what goes on inside a woman’s body, especially when we have a health care system barely fit for a third world country, a banking system constantly planning new financial crises and enough privately owned guns to arm Soviet Russia — you know, real issues.
So to all you pro-lifers out there, it’s time to get over it. Freedom won 40 years ago, and it will continue to win no matter how many times you try to stick it to those liberals. Abortion is here to stay. Move on.