Wanted: A Democrat to 'Unilaterally' & 'Relentlessly' Defend Abortion
LatestLast night, President Obama assured us that our government has the right to act “unilaterally” and “relentlessly” to shut down terrorist networks who pose a direct threat to us.
And so we began to dream.
What would it be like for a President to say those same words about protecting our civil right to an abortion?
Full disclosure: my political interests are narrow. They are tied directly to what I can do with my body, labor, and my economic standing in this country. Other issues are important to me; those three trump all others.
So I wait for a political leader to say, frankly and boldly, that he or she will fight like hell for these things.
Remember when Joe Biden said he would follow ISIS into the gates of hell? I would like that sort of passion and dick wagging about my own rights. I think I deserve that.
I have done a lot of phonebanking for Democrats.
So this section of Obama’s speech came as a nice—though tepid—surprise:
It’s time we stop treating childcare as a side issue, or a women’s issue, and treat it like the national economic priority that it is for all of us. And that’s why my plan will make quality childcare more available, and more affordable, for every middle-class and low-income family with young children in America — by creating more slots and a new tax cut of up to $3,000 per child, per year.
That tiny fount of hope quickly dried up when Obama finally addressed abortion (45 minutes in, and after mentioning the moon, polio, hacking, and Ebola) in this blood pumping battle cry:
We still may not agree on a woman’s right to choose, but surely we can agree it’s a good thing that teen pregnancies and abortions are nearing all-time lows, and that every woman should have access to the health care she needs.
“The Right to Choose” has been one of the greatest PR blunders of Democrats and Nth wave feminism. The slogan obscures the real issue: women should have the right to an abortion, no questions asked, no interference from the government, whenever they want. Instead Democrats, thanks in large part to the Clintons, have positioned themselves to only advocate for fewer abortions overall and only when needed. Abortion, their platform goes, should be safe, legal and rare. And now, mostly for teens.
Here is the deal: there can be a thousand abortions a minute. The gross total of abortions has nothing to do with how legal and safe it is. Further, leave the teens out of this. The teens will grow up with more abortion restrictions than the “9/11 generation” did (plus, you can’t get pregnant from Snapchat). In the last four years states have enacted 231 new abortion restrictions. Take a look at this chart, via Guttmacher:
Make no mistake, there will be a new onslaught of abortion restrictions coming our way in this election cycle. If we want to win, we need someone who doesn’t care whether or not those against our civil rights agree with us.
Image via Getty