Politics Be Damned!

I am going to write this tonight in the hopes that it will satisfy my need to be heard before I make a total fool of myself on Facebook. 

We are only a couple of weeks before the Presidential election.  Both parties are pulling out all of the stops at the last minute in the hope of influencing people who are undecided.  People who actually think for themselves can see the politics and the intent, but people who don't can be influenced. 

One of my personal passions is the way women are treated by the Republican Party.  These are the conservatives among us...the Christians...those who claim to be the only defenders of offenses to the Constitution.  They are anti-abortion, claiming that the Bible gives them the right to defend the rights of the unborn, even in the case of rape and incest.  The candidates are stepping all over themselves in droves, these days, and it troubles me.  One fellow named Akins made some inane statement about how the female body has a way of shutting down and not allowing a raped woman to become pregnant.  Another, in my very own state of Indiana, claimed that he was against abortion in the case of rape/incest because, even though rape was deplorable, if a woman becomes pregnant due to that rape, it is a life that God intended to happen.  That announcement means, to him, that the woman should be required to carry a rape baby to term because life is sacred--his religious belief.

Well, good for him!  I respect his opinion.  Really, I do!  I just don't want him to represent me in government.  And here's why:  The last time I looked, the laws of the Constitution were not written to cover THREE sets of citizens--men, women, and pregnant women.  We, as a country, cannot discriminate against pregnant women, requiring them to carry a fetus/baby to term, unless we also require men and non-pregnant women to submit to reproductive laws, as well.  We are not permitted to require mandatory sterilization of pedophiles and rapists or women who have a zillion kids just to take advantage of welfare.  I don't even like the overtones of that. 

Like Mr. Mourdock (the candidate who goofed up), I also believe that life begins at conception.  No doubt about that.  But when does that life begin to have American rights?  Certainly not until that fetus/baby is capable of living outside the womb.  (Third trimester of pregnancy.)  If we do our research about stages of gestation, a fetus in the very early weeks of pregnancy just looks like a chicken embryo.  As it grows, features develop.  A beating heart does NOT mean that the organism feels or thinks.  Abortion in the early weeks is like stepping on a bug.  (Sorry about the analogy, but true.)  Loved and wanted and nurtured, the unborn becomes a baby that is born into a family...whatever that means.  Conceived in incest or rape--or any other negative situation-- the mother should not be required to carry a fetus to term, by law.  And the laws that determine that should NOT be made by men without female representation!!!!  We simply cannot make legal decisions that legislate morality and still have separation of church and state.  I am a Christian, but (for the second time in my life) I am embarrassed to be thrown in the same category as these folks.

I have other reasons not to vote Republican this year, but this one is the biggest for me.  My child is female, and I have a female grandchild.  I don't like the notion that abortion is a viable option for contraception, but I also don't like the notion that the option would be taken away (again) by a male-driven society.  God forbid that my girls should ever need an abortion...but it should be their right, should they find themselves in the situation of an unwanted pregnancy!

Men impregnate women on a regular basis, then abandon their responsibilities when they become pregnant.  The African-American community is full of this...but there is a whole culture of whites who are also in the same boat.  Let's get real about parental responsibility.  Until the Republicans are willing to DO something about the number of unwanted children who are abandoned, raised in poverty, sent off to foster care, etc., they should NOT be standing on the platform of the sanctity of life.  Have they been in inner cities lately?  No...probably not.  Unless it is to grab an unwelcome photo op of washing dishes at a soup kitchen, as the Republican VP candidate did lately, risking the donations to the place.  Don't get me started on that!!!!