Roe v. Wade and the State of our Nation

DISCLAIMER: DON'T MESSAGE ME ABOUT THIS UNLESS YOU READ THE WHOLE THING

The impending reversal of Roe v. Wade has been stressing me out as I know it has for many people. However, the reasons for my stress are likely different than the usual. Personally, I’ve always been pro-life. My opinion (I know…I don’t have a uterus…just keep reading please) is that having an abortion – barring exceptional circumstances such as in the case of incest/rape or to save the mother’s life – is morally wrong because I do genuinely believe that life begins at conception. That’s my belief. However, these morals stem largely from personally held Christian convictions, and I acknowledge that.

 

I also think that one of the beautiful things about our country is that we are afforded the gift of separation of church and state. Despite being a Christian and desiring that other people would believe similar things, I acknowledge that many people don’t, and thus I believe that this separation is a wonderful thing. Religious persecution is one of the primary reasons why our founding fathers crossed the sea and began anew in America. This gift… the gift of freedom from having certain religious convictions forced upon you… means that although I have certain beliefs, I DON’T think that those beliefs should be imposed on others thru the rule of law (and neither did the founders, who made it expressly clear on numerous occasions that America was not designed to be a “Christian” nation, but rather a nation that allows individuals to practice their religion freely, Christian or otherwise).

 

And to me, it seems that the implications of Roe being overturned take things a bit far in this regard. Many states, including my own state of Missouri, will not only be issuing a complete ban on abortions at any stage of pregnancy, but will also attempt to ban certain forms of female contraception as well as in vitro fertilization. The state wants to criminalize the use of any of these practices, as well as criminalizing the travel to other states to seek abortions or contraception elsewhere (Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill touted these facts all over Twitter). In my estimation this seems to be a VERY slippery slope for reasons beyond abortion alone.

 

Where does it end? Will people be tried in a court of law and jailed because of something they put in their body? Will the government start monitoring our medical records to ensure that females are not accessing IUDs or other forms of birth control? Will women who receive a positive pregnancy test be required to stay within the state until their pregnancy comes to term? I personally don’t see how criminalization could be enforced without resorting to such drastic and oppressive measures. And to make matters worse, any legal challenge to these issues could end up back in the Supreme Court, where it could potentially be upheld on the same basis that was used to overturn Roe.

 

Republicans are supposed to be small-government advocates, with the theory being that less government = more freedom to live your life the way you want, something I can normally get behind. And yet when it comes to this issue, it seems to me like Republicans in many states are magnifying the role of government and severely inhibiting personal freedoms for large segments of the population. The implications of this Supreme Court decision are NOT good for many reasons having nothing to do with abortion at all.

 

To everyone posting incessantly on social media, sharing things that mischaracterize the positions of the party you oppose…please stop. It is SO important to be able to talk about issues in a civilized manner with an attempt to understand the positions of people on the other side. That doesn’t mean you always need to agree, but it does mean that we can work together to find common ground and create a country that works for ALL of us. Don't look to your elected officials for an example of how to act: all they do is incite polarization with the selfish motive of getting you to vote for them in the next election. It is thru coming together as a nation and compromising – not polarizing – that we can stop the division that everyone can see but that has gone unaddressed for far too long.