Editorial

Pro-choice crowd can only blame themselves for this

ACHTUNG: This is not a “fair and balanced” article. It is an editorial by the editor

“We have met the enemy, and he is us.” — Walt Kelly in “Pogo.”

“I learned our country must be strong,
It's always right and never wrong.
Our leaders are the finest men,
And we elect them again and again” — Tom Paxton

There is great wailing and gnashing of teeth all over this land today because of the news that Roe vs. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that essentially legalized abortion in 1973, is in very real danger of being overturned.

The news about the historic leak from the Supreme Court was greeted by a firestorm of wailing from pro-choice folks and celebrations by pro-life folks. Abortion indeed is this nation’s most contentious issue since slavery.

This prompts me to send a challenging message to all those who say they support a woman’s right to choose: Organize and put your money where your mouth is.

Ever since the Moral Majority and Christian Coalition became political entities in the late 1970s and scored the huge victory in electing Ronald Reagan in 1980, the pro-life side of this debate has owned this issue in terms of enthusiasm, organization and results. Though it has taken a long time, these zealots have proved their mettle in marching, lobbying and electing politicians who are on their side. Things looked so bleak for them about 20 years ago that I saw and heard many vow to change the hearts and minds of the people to come around to their side.

From where I sit, they failed to secure the sympathies of a majority of the electorate, but they have found other avenues by which to achieve their goals. And now they are on the precipice of overturning the hated Roe vs. Wade decision of 49 years ago.

The pro-choice crowd has only themselves to blame. Though they consistently have enjoyed the supposed advantages in public opinion polls, they have been soft on the public relations and marketing aspects and have fallen asleep at the wheel while pro-lifers have gotten their boys and girls elected to state legislatures, Congress and the U.S. Senate.

Pro-choicers are rightly critical about old white men making laws about what women can do about their bodies, but they have simply let it happen. The pro-lifers have outflanked them in getting the elder white guys elected and then appoint justices to the Supreme Court. It certainly wasn’t fair when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell scuttled the appointment of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court and then a year and a half later shepherded the selection of Amy Coney Barrett, despite similar circumstances, but the action stands.

The silence has been deafening about the conflicts of interest for Justice Clarence Thomas and the political antics of his wife and Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s sudden good fortune of having his debts forgiven.

Democrats and pro-choicers have been acting like whiny losers since the election of Donald Trump. They’ve done little if anything to fight back for their cause.

Yet a CBS poll Tuesday evening showed more than 60 percent support keeping Roe vs. Wade as is and in Michigan the figure was 56 percent, despite the unanimous pro-life stance of all Republican challengers to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

It doesn’t matter. Polls and public opinion apparently no longer drive election results.

Me? I am as pro-choice as was Donald Trump in a televised interview with Tim Russert in 1999. Unlike Trump, my view since has not changed.

The challenge ahead for pro-choicers is to get mad as hell and not going to take it any more, enough to mobilize voters and harness their outrage at the polls in November.

28 Comments

  • So…….We locked down, double masked, double vac’d, double boosted, to save every life possible, to that I say great why wouldn’t you. Then on this matter you say lets kill the unborn or in some jurisdictions lets birth the babies and the decide if they live or die. Help me understand this train of thought and how I’m missing the point. Nearly 30,000 abortions in 2020 were performed in Michigan alone. Since 1973 over 58 millions babies have been put to death. Then the editor says let’s kill more babies and get mad as hell……..Interesting……….

    No cheers today…….This is a sad day……
    Blessings

    • You can’t have it both ways sweetheart from seed to sampling.
      New study says
      Guns were leading cause of death among children, teens in 2020, research says
      JORDAN MENDOZA | USA TODAY

      Firearms became the leading cause of death among children and teenagers in the United States in 2020, according to new research using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

      The finding comes after a record 45,222 people died from firearm-related injuries in 2020 in the U.S., according to a letter published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Most of the deaths were from firearm homicide.

      Researchers from the University of Michigan noted that an alarming number of the deaths, 10,186 (22.5%), were of people ages 1 to 19.

      For more than 60 years, motor vehicle accidents had been the leading cause of deaths of young people, but since 2001, the number of those deaths has dramatically decreased. There were about 3,900 deaths in 2020. Meanwhile, firearm-related deaths have been on the rise since 2013; there was a 29.5% increase from 2019 to 2020……

      Skoal!

    • Were you double masked? Were you double vaccinated? Are you aligned with the NRA? Perhaps you were one of those who fought those life saving measures like so many trumpsters before you. And now crying about abortion? Hypocrisy at its best.

  • Mr. Editor,
    Sir,
    No mention of the Constitution? As we read the objections, no one mentioned the Constitution? It is all about the Constitution for the Court. Years ago I wrote in this esteemed publication that the Pro-choice folks needed to amend the Constitution to protect Roe. The last 49 years has seen advancements in science that make abortion after 25 weeks problematic; a 50% survival rate at 24 weeks changes things. That said, Roe has been in violation of the Constitution for 49 years. States can still allow, even fund abortion as the Constitution allows it. If you are Pro-choice work to pass a constitutional amendment and lets be done with the war between Americans. Perhaps we find to much money funding both sides of the war for them to end it in a way allowed by the Constitution?

    • The right to abortion is not explicitly enumerated in the Constitution because the Constitution does not concern itself with the rights of women. As originally written, the Constitution did not even guarantee women the right to vote—it endowed no one with that right aside from propertied white men. The omission of abortion, then, says less about the issue itself than about who the Founding Fathers considered people.

      • Ms. Deb,
        Did you read the part about amending the Constitution? The 19th Amendment protects the vote for woman. The founders installed an amendment process to update the constitution. Time to stop complaining and work for an amendment if you wish to install abortion at the federal level, or is it more advantages for folks to raise money, the solution be dammed? In the 49 years after Roe an amendment could have been passed 24 times.
        To the Editor, President Biden was pro-life until he was not, it is wrong for President Trump to change his mind but not President Biden? And your call for the pro-life folks to, put their money where their mouth is, proves the point, follow the money, but not the constitution.

        • To Army Bob: There you go again with binary thinking. I never said it’s OK for Biden to change his mind. This is not a free pass for Biden vs. criticism of Trump. Furthermore, I did not call for pro-lifers to put their money where there mouth is. I addressed that comment to pro-choicers.

  • Sides are what make politicians happy. It opens the door for manipulation thru by-lines and let’s say “massaging of the truth” by media outlets. Divide people, pander to them, and secure votes.
    It’s in the politician’s playbook.
    And that “divide” stuff is nasty and typically not built on the truth.
    In order to assist in this tactic, it seems journalists have received a prescription from their doctor, the doctor being the AP, or Reuters, or the HP et al, and it says, “take this as written and continue to spew it many times a day, year after year, until everybody believes it and they become seething idiots”.

    And so, then you have immoral majority and anti-Christian coalition spew as seen above.
    Or the opposite.
    But nothing of substance anymore relating to what the actual subject matter is.
    That being the actual language within The Constitution of the United States.

    Letting this go back to the states to chew on for a while might be a really good thing.
    Just be patient, stop being reactionary (political parties love that), and stop letting others tell you what to think.
    Read it, study it, use your mind rather than emotions stirred up by someone else’s rhetoric.

    • You comment on “divide stuff” then go on to call those who you disagree with the immoral majority and anti Christian coalition? You play right into the politicians hands. You are part of the problem perhaps?

      • Have you considered counciling… your anger issues are very obvious.
        The abortion issue should always have been decided on a state rights issue, not a national scale. The Supreme Court finally realizes the mistaken ruling the earlier judges conjured up out of thin air.

  • It would be enlightening for all those interested in supporting abortion to watch and participate in a 25 week old child being aborted. I think when they realize the child is actively struggling to avoid the abortion tools, when they see the child’s heartbeat racing and finally stop beating, when they see the limbs being removed, they may just have a different opinion on whether or not a person is being murdered. David, would you be willing to hand the doctors the tools to perform this “service”?

  • Thankfully all those that support the killing of more babies weren’t aborted by their Mothers………

    Blessings

  • The only way around this as I see it is to require vasectomies for all male children. When a couple decides it is time to have a child he can reverse it. Let’s put the onus on the male.
    I agree with the essay. We let this happen. Allowing the republicans to push two Supreme Court justices through. Not encouraging RBG to retire during Obamas presidency, we are much to soft. Our votes matter and this leak is the impetus we need. Time to play hardball.

    • Deb, With very very few exceptions Mothers with unwanted children become pregnant by making poor CHOICES. The epitome innocence, a sinless child should not be slaughtered because of the Mothers CHOICE. May God help the poor souls who would be so cruel. My opinion…my choice…

      • David Then why not support my idea? It takes two people to make a baby. So easy to give a young male a vasectomy. It doesn’t matter how a woman gets pregnant in this case. The onus is half on the male! Im so tired of you men dictating a woman’s life. David. At this point if you don’t want an abortion don’t get one. Or just get yourself clipped and be part of the solution. You don’t have the right to tell women what to do with a pregnancy a male was very involved in creating.. you handle the males. Us women can handle ourselves.

    • Oh please! I’m getting a picture of males dispersing gallons of sperm into unwilling females. Look, it takes 2 willing partners to tango. And with the abundance of various forms of contraception, there is no reason for an unwanted pregnancy, unless there is a rape. Let’s stop with blaming males for unwanted pregnancies.
      As for vasectomies, tubal ligations are being successfully reversed. So, perhaps those women who wish to be sexually active should get their tubes tied, take a pill, use some foam or whatever, rather than use abortion as a means of contraception.
      Time to play hardball? Well, the Supreme Court has now put the ball in your court.
      As to RBG, you should do some research on her views on Roe vs Wade. Here, I’ll help you.
      “My criticism of Roe is that it seemed to have stopped the momentum on the side of change,” Ginsburg said. She would’ve preferred that abortion rights be secured more gradually, in a process that included state legislatures and the courts, she added. Ginsburg also was troubled that the focus on Roe was on a right to privacy, rather than women’s rights.
      https://www.law.uchicago.edu/news/justice-ruth-bader-ginsburg-offers-critique-roe-v-wade-during-law-school-visit

      • Yeah I get that picture as well Robert and though I’m 64 years old now I remember clearly how much men wanted to use their sperm when I was in college. It was mind blowing. Hopefully Robert you’ve had a vasectomy. You have no clue what women put up with. Why are you so invested in putting the onus on women? Have been to a cattle farm or horse farm in Kentucky? Sorry for the visual but really. It’s not 50-50 buddy. I’m bored with you men deciding how to handle the problem you minimize your involvement with.

    • Maybe all future male babies should be put to the sword like in Egypt. That way everyone would be “happy”. No future sperm providers, no problem. So what if there was no population to provide labor, all the females would be free to take all the top paying jobs since there would be no pregnancies and child rearing to be done. Of course through a few generations there would be no replacements to fill jobs. Then Nirvana would be experienced, the world would be at peace, all the potheads and drug users would be complete in their euphoria, and everyone would be Socialists, as in better Red than Dead. Sounds ideal doesn’t it?
      So quit arguing over abortion, the solution is at hand.

  • The human being is the most wonderful.,complex animal on earth. We condemn the slaughter of war, and the artorias committed by leaders as Hitler. We detest death caused by firearms, automobiles, drugs and disease.
    We spend millions trying to find cures. We have ruined our economy and caused great hardship trying to prevent death from Covid and its variants.
    We keep the criminals who have done the most horrific things against their fellow man from death . Because taking their life would be wrong.
    Alas, when abortion is mentioned the Pro Choice supporters don their shirts, grab their signs, and march thru the streets. Proclaiming they have the “right” to kill .
    One can “sugar coat” abortion anyway they choose. One can not hide the fact the human being is a every hypocritical , “sick creation, when it comes killing the unborn.

    • Do you detest death by firearms? Do you support efforts to control Covid? Do you condemn slaughter of war? Republicans seem to love a good war. They condemn abortion yet fail to support the health and well being of a child until they are of age to fight in a war and then are eager to send these young people off to be killed!
      You do nothing to restrict the use of firearms. It’s hard to take you seriously regarding the sanctity of life. If you don’t agree with abortions don’t get one, but please remember to respect all of life.
      As a reminder this essay is not even about your opinion on abortion.

  • Mr Smit,

    In many states, including MI, criminals who commit horrific crimes are incarcerated for the rest of their lives rather than being executed because they might still be alive to be released if they are found to be innocent. It’s happened in MI this year where Walter Forbes was released after 38 years of serving a sentence for murder after his innocence was proven.

    How many COVID deaths in MI were worth saving an economy for Mr. Smit? 25,000, 50,000 maybe less than 100,000? Then add that MI and the US would need the same economic driven attitude from our major trading partners, many of who enacted far more rigid rules to contain the spread of COVID that affected their economies too.

    Unless you are a One World Order supporter (which I doubt) COVID was a world-wide pandemic that killed nearly 15M people worldwide and countries took steps to stop or slow the spread of COVID knowing those steps would have economic costs. As of today, May 5, 2022, China has a 4 week old COVID lockdown in Shanghai and Beijing residents are anticipating a lockdown starting soon. Lockdowns in China affect the US economy regardless of how much of a Laissez-faire public health policy the U.S. or individual states may choose to use.

    Given the recent appointments to the Supreme Court, I’ve suspected it was a matter of time before Roe v Wade was no longer the law of the land.

    I’ve always thought the decision to have an abortion is very personal. We don’t live in a theocracy (yet). While I respect others to trust their own decisions regarding pregnancy, birth and raising a child, it’s clear that you and many others think all of are better equipped morally to make decisions for them.

    Next time the government makes a law you don’t like, remember how you like this decision being made for others. Small “conservative” government? My foot.

    If Roe v Wade is overturned, I hope “conservative” politicians take the following steps; Declare life begins at conception and change the tax code so parents can retroactively claim their unborn children as dependents on the previous year’s taxes. If there is a still birth, that child is still claimed as a dependent for one year.

    Also hope all those thinking the end of Roe v Wade is positive get ready for more public spending and higher insurance premiums to take care of those children born whose parents aren’t allowed to chose after finding their unborn child won’t have a functioning respiratory system, nervous system or other medical malady that will not allow them to survive outside the womb for months or a year without extraordinary medical treatment and measures.

    Even in the era of Roe v Wade I know of families who knew their unborn child was going to require extraordinary care for years, sometimes a lifetime and chose to see that child born. They make all kinds of sacrifices but those families also get all types of financial support from the state and Federal governments to help them take of their child often with caregiver costs being paid for by those same government agencies. We do that because there isn’t the evil society some want to imply exists. Be ready to see more safety net expenditures simply because of this “victory”.

    I am waiting to see the lines for adoption of minority, mentally and physically challenged children grow exponentially in the new era as well.

    And so it goes.

    • The Democrats condemn the slaughter of war. The Democrats detest death caused by firearm. The Democrats tried to mitigate the Covid problem . The Democrats fight the death penalty. The Democrats fight to find a way to help the struggling discover a way to find citizenship in this country. It’s the Democrats who try to find a way to keep health care costs s down. Stop saying “we”. It’s the Democrats. I’m Pro Life completely. Are you?
      Please I hate to have to say this but if you don’t want an abortion please don’t get one

      • In my opinion, you are down a tunnel that without a relationship with GOD will be hard to get out. Please read GODS love letter to us…the Bible.

Leave a Reply to Robert M Traxler X