Kore Philosophy

No Responses to “Kore Philosophy 1 - Abortion”

1. on 21 May 2008 at 8:46 pm # Walt Snider

   (Walt here, this is an email we got from Curt Arndt of the Wandering Geek podcast at http://www.WanderingGeek.info.)

   Hi Walt and Steve,

   The topic of adoption is very straight forward, who could be against it, right? It benefits both the child and the adults who want to take on the awesome responsibility of raising a child. More power to everyone who takes on the burden with eyes wide open.

   I feel that, quite frankly, some on the right are too restrictive when it comes to non-traditional couples adopting “hard to place” children. I would think it is far more desirable to have a gay couple take in a child rather than keeping that child bouncing from home to home in the foster care system. I believe the current system fails these kids and should be changed to allow these adoptions if there is no evidence that the child would be mistreated, as should be the case in hetero couples as well.

   Also, why is there such a shortage of available children that potential adoptive parents have to go overseas to find children to adopt? I personally know a couple that is adopting an infant from South Korea. And that story is repeated over and over in the local news and on various cable networks. Obviously there are available homes for at least some of the 1.3 million “unwanted” children that are never allowed to be born every year.

   Which brings me to the topic of Abortion, which is drenched in hypocrisy and extremism on both sides of the argument. Quite frankly, a pox on both their houses. The reason that this is and will remain a “hot button” issue is that the American People have never been able to debate it amongst themselves and come to a conclusion of any sort. Our legislative process that is supposed to produce laws by the will of the governed has been bypassed in this instance. Due to the “Roe vs. Wade” Supreme Court decision it was taken completely out of the hands of The People at any level. Regardless of what side of this particular issue you come down on, Roe is bad law and bad president which has led to the court taking extra-constitutional power to which it is not entitled, but that’s a whole other topic that perhaps you can tackle in a later podcast.

   Before I go any further in this discussion I feel it incumbent on me to state my personal position on this topic. I lean decidedly toward the “pro-life” position. I am a realist however, and don’t think that abortion would ever be banned, nor do I necessarily think it should be. I think that if we as a people were allowed to have a rational discussion, without the interference of the whack-jobs on both sides, we would come to a reasonable accommodation that would allow unfettered access to first trimester abortions, significant restrictions for the second trimester, and third trimester abortions only in the case of extreme medical necessity as determined by prevailing medical practices and procedures. Unfortunately I don’t see that conversation occurring under the current political conditions.

   As much as I understand where the zealots on the pro-life side are coming from in your “picture protest” example, these people are idiots. In our country this is not a moral or health issue any more, it is a political one. And you are not going to get anyone to join you by throwing blood around, just ask PETA. They would be much better served by having pictures of cute babies along with their ultra-sound pictures on a big poster, thereby showing that the fetus DOES actually turn into a cute kid. And I had the idea a while of an advertising campaign about the human potential wrapped up in that unborn baby. ‘Have we perhaps killed the person who would have cured cancer or would have someday brokered peace in the Middle East?’ It’s something that’s thought provoking and that doesn’t offend the folks in the middle that you are trying to convince. But again, it’s not on the radar of the extremes on either side.

   The vast majority of abortions (93-98% depending on which statistics you go by) are basically retroactive birth control. They have nothing to do with rape, incest, or the health of either the mother or the fetus. These factors even under the most generous surveys reach 7% and that is reported by organizations that wish to keep the status quo of unfettered access to abortion. I believe this is a fact that most people, including yourselves, are unaware of and is important to this debate.

   One thing that you brought up is that any abortion decision should be between the two people that created the child in the first place and not anyone else’s. I don’t know what the laws in Florida are, but I know that in Wisconsin the woman can certainly have the abortion without ever even notifying the other party involved. So in a perfect world and a perfect relationship this discussion would take place, but if the world was perfect they wouldn’t have had an unwanted pregnancy in the first place. And perhaps it would be best if the couple would open a dialog and take steps to minimize the risk of pregnancy and potentially lethal disease in the first place. I’m sorry, even “heat of the moment” with a “club pick-up” isn’t worth dieing over, dude. Wrap the damn thing and protect your life and your bank account.

   I’d like to pop a giant hole in the “straw-man” argument you put forth of the rape victim abortion. According to government figures, it is estimated that there are approximately 340 cases of pregnancy due to rape a year. And I will not dismiss the trauma that those women who face this particular nightmare have to endure, I can only imagine and I’m sure that fall far short of the reality. However, we are a nation of 303 MILLION, not including tens of millions of illegals. That is .00011% (Eleven Ten-Thousandths of One Percent) and we can not structure our laws and society around a minority that small. Our laws must protect the minority, but can not be built around them. Though this basic common sense axiom seems to be lost at the current time in the United States. (Another topic for the show perhaps?)

   Not to mention I have never in my political awareness, which spans from approximately 1982 to the present, ever heard of any major political figure not make an exception for rape or incest in even a so called “complete ban” on abortion. So the example that you, and many others, give to support the abortion access argument is specious and does little to further the debate due to it’s rarity and the near universal agreement that even under tight restrictions it would be allowed. I’m afraid the “anti-abortion” crazies that show those pictures at the protests have suckered you into defending a position that the vast majority already agree on.

   Just to put this is a little more perspective, there were twice as many women that had five prior abortions (They were getting their sixth) in the single state of Texas than were the made pregnant by rape in the entire country. This is far less about the woman who is a victim of violence than it is about the discarding the inconvenient.

   You might also be surprised to hear that there was a study that said approximately one-half of the women that fit the profile of your example decide to keep the child. Though admittedly these numbers could be inaccurate due to the small sample size of the study in which this was reported. Even if this number is off by a factor of 2, one quarter of these pregnancies is not insignificant.

   I find it interesting that you allow for the “human potential” of the woman in your example but none what so ever for the “human potential” for the child she’s carrying. Both could be better realized by a better adoption system. There are better options and I think that the “Pro-life” community should be putting their efforts in that direction. It’s both a lost opportunity to garner public support for the pro-life stance and the right thing to do.

   We as a country have lost out on the innovations, productivity, and yes, taxes of nearly 49.7 MILLION people over the last 34 years because these children were never allowed to be born. This has caused several major social and economic issues including the upcoming collapse of the Social Security System and the need for Illegal Immigrants to allow for continued economic growth. I also wonder if the slide in the apparent value of human life in certain quarters of our society has anything to do with the fact that we seem so willing to literally throw away the most vulnerable of human beings. But I’m not sociologist, so I’ll just leave that for speculation.

   In conclusion, as Steve said, abortion is “Hard Core” and it’s something that will remain a festering sore in the psyche of our country until we wrestle it out of the hands of 9 old guys in black robes and sit down together and hash it out in a rational manner. Then we must have our representatives in Washington do their fracking job for a change and actually make a law covering it, though at this point it would probably need to be a Constructional Amendment to supersede the president that the Warren Burger Court took upon itself to set. All of which seems highly unlikely.

   To be honest, both of the major political parties make far too much money in the way of campaign donations using this “wedge issue” against each other to ever allow it to be resolved. Call me a cynic, but I think this issue will be with us for a very long time.

   All the best, Curt

   –
   Curt “The Camera Guy” Arndt
   The Wandering Geek Podcast
   http://www.WanderingGeek.info

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