MY NEW HERO
Dr. Mila Means
The one sure way to get what you want is to murder those on the other side of the debate.
- Rachel Maddow
That abortion is and remains a divisive issue in this country is hardly newsworthy. That anti-choice zealots kill abortion providers is nothing new. That these same zealots ignore the rule of law in order to pursue their narrow agenda is something that should send chills up the spine of every American, regardless of where they happen to come down on the abortion debate.
Roe v. Wade is settled law, having established a woman’s right to a safe, legal abortion in 1973. The law aside, however, there remains a dedicated cadre of zealots who hold their narrow beliefs to be morally superior and sanctioned by God. To their way of thinking, the imprimatur of the Almighty elevates their beliefs over all other considerations- even the law of the land. Many of these folks are the same people who demand “smaller government”, the idea that we should get government out of our lives. Incredibly, and not at all hypocritically, they find the idea of government policing the reproductive functions of American women to be perfectly acceptable.
Remember, when Liberals do it, it’s “government overreach”. When Conservatives do it, it’s “standing up for the unborn”….
Granted, no reasonable person wants to see abortions taking place. In a perfect world, every baby would be born into an environment in which they could count on being wanted, cared for, and loved. Sadly, this is not the case, which, odious as it may seem, necessitates the need for Roe v. Wade. In a country that exists largely because of the rule of law, this should be taken as a matter of course…unless you’re an anti-choice zealot who feels that your moral outrage trumps everything, including the rule of law.
When will women FINALLY be disabused of the silly notion that they should be entrusted with the ability to make decisions regarding their own reproductive functions? When will women realize that the people in the best position to make these decisions are wealthy, well-fed, Socially Conservative White Males who believe that women are merely sperm receptacles and vessesl for the propagation of the species?
When God is on your side, it seems that any means for achieving your desired end is acceptable- even up to and including murder. How bad have things become? How about so bad that now a state (in this case South Dakota) is considering a bill that would allow for the idea of “justifiable homicide” to prevent abortions from taking place. Yes, despite the fact that abortions are legal under Roe v. Wade, South Dakota is seriously considering legislation that would seem to provide official sanction for killing abortion providers. Though those behind the bill will pooh-pooh this notion, I’m not certain how else you could interpret this bill.
Now, it seems South Dakota is willing to legalize acts of terror in order to be the number one anti-abortion state in the U.S. The South Dakota House is taking up a bill to redefine “justifiable homicide” that may “make it legal to kill doctors who perform abortions,” Mother Jones reports. Passed out of committee on a 9-3 party line vote, the GOP-backed bill “could in theory allow a woman’s father, mother, son, daughter, or husband to kill anyone who tried to provide that woman an abortion — even if she wanted one.”
Ideology and my considered opposition to everything the zealots stand for aside, I really do have to commend them for their strategy and their commitment to it. Yes, it’s odious, anti-American, and anti-Christian, but those who oppose abortion in any shape, manner, or form have adopted an ingenious three-pronged strategy:
Given that Roe v. Wade is settled law, the odds of overturning it are somewhere between slim and none…not that the anti-choice zealots are worried about this, mind you. No, they have no intention of destroying a woman’s right to an abortion with the sledgehammer blows of a frontal assault. What they have in abundance is commitment, patience, and a complete and total disdain for anything that falls outside their narrow agenda. They will picket, harrass, and agitate- hey, ain’t free speech grand?- as long as they need to in order to frighten, intimidate, and wear down their adversaries. You don’t need to worry about laws when those you oppose and despise are too intimidated to avail themselves of their legal rights. Freedom isn’t destroyed by sledgehammer blows; it’s nibbled away piecemeal by rubber mallets.
On the legal front, anti-choice zealots are taking on Roe v. Wade in an exceedingly oblique manner. Rather than work to overturn Roe v. Wade, anti-choice zealots and their Republican comrades are working to eradicate a woman’s right to abortion through the legal equivalent of sawing the legs off the table. By tinkering around the margins, passing laws that place ever more egregious and inconvenient roadblocks in the path of a woman seeking an abortion, the result is that the legal right to an abortion becomes increasingly more challenging…and eventually irrelevant.
For those will to bear any burden and overcome any obstacle to prevent women from having access to abortion services, there’s still the time-honored (and effective) method: murdering abortion providers. Those who’ve committed murder in the service of the cause (Paul Hill, Scott Roeder, etc, ad nauseum) are considered to be heroes by those completely dedicated to the cause. That murder is against the law (and violates one of the Ten Commandments) seems not to matter to these zealots, who consider murder in the “defense” of the unborn to be both justifiable and righteous.
Before long, a woman’s right to an abortion will be rendered moot, and Roe v. Wade, while still the law of the land, will be rendered completely irrelevant. While abortion will still technically be legal, in a practical sense obtaining an abortion will be an impossibility. A woman’s legal right to an abortion will have succumbed to a war of attrition. It may not happen tomorrow, next week, or next year…but it WILL happen. And then the zealots will finally have achieved their victory and eliminated the silly notion that women deserve to have control over their bodies.
So much for the rule of law….
