"Be bloody, bold, and resolute; laugh to scorn the power of man, for none of woman born shall harm Macbeth." -Prophecy to Shakespeare's Macbeth
Pro-abortion politicians would have us believe that pro-choicers are like Slate's William Saletan. Saletan recently wrote a piece in the New York Times arguing that the pro-choice movement should admit the ideal number of abortions in America is zero. He recognizes abortion as a negative and harmful thing.
While that's the face they'd like to see, reality is different. Saletan came to present his case to a conference of 50 pro-choice and feminist leaders across the nation. The moderator announced that annually there were 1.295 million abortions in America and asked who thought that number was too high. Only 2 (or 4%) agreed.
The perfect representative of pro-Choice America is not Saletan, but rather The Nation's Katha Politt who rebuffed Saletan's piece on abortion and shared the floor with him at this conference. Politt is clear. There's nothing wrong with abortion and saying so only stigmatizes abortion providers and women who use their services. She rightly points out the absurdity of Saletan's position of increased birth control to reduce abortions. Fifty-eight percent of women who get abortions used Birth Control the month before.
She cast the terms of the debate so clearly. When fought on morality and the actual circumstances of abortion, the pro-abortion side is losing:
"In 1989 a number of polls asked respondents whether abortion should be legal or not depending on the reason for seeking it. After life/health, rape/incest and fetal deformity, majorities of Americans disapproved of every reason on the list: can't afford a child (40 percent approval), too many children (40 percent), emotional strain (35 percent), to finish school (28 percent), not married (25 percent). Assuming opinion hasn't drastically changed, most Americans think women should be denied abortions for the reasons the vast majority of procedures are performed."
Her solution, avoid "anti-abortion moralizing" entirely. While politicians may differ, the pro-abortion movement is listening and this gives Saletan great pause. He wrote, "Most voters think in simple terms. Sixty percent of them have no problem telling pollsters they want fewer abortions. If you can't connect with these voters, you're in trouble."
Democrats are hamstrung by a base that wants to hear nothing but rah-rahs for abortion and will not tolerate anything but the most tepid statements against the procedure. I can't help but see something providential in the ear of the pro-choice movement being with Katha Politt. She is of that vital breed of humanity without whom change never occurs in this world: the false prophet.
Without bad advice, our world would never progress. Be it Macbeth's three apparitions advising him to go on a bloody rampage that ended his reign, the Biblical account of the false prophets of wicked King Ahab promising him success in a battle that would lead to Ahab's death, or John Calhoun's 1837 proclamation that slavery was good which redefined the slavery debate, bad people who give foolish advice often achieve good things.
Like Shakespeare's spirits, Politt urges boldness. Don't hide the woman who aborted two of her three triplets to avoid buying large jars of mayonnaise at Costco and then wrote about it in the New York Times. Don't hide the woman who got an abortion so she could fit her wedding dress. Wear a T-Shirt that says, "I Had an Abortion" with all the thought you'd give to wearing one that said "I Ate at Joe's."
And be bloody. In addition to the impracticality of Saletan's proposition of a zero abortion goal. If his plan to reduce abortions worked, what would that do to abortion providers? Lets say, Salatan's plan cut abortions by 10%, that would cut abortionist income by 10% and abortion would become less economically feasible, particularly as so many doctors are forced to do abortion as their only source of income. We mustn't exacerbate the abortionist supply problem!
Americans have lived in a make believe world on abortion. They've fallen hook, line, and sinker for the hard cases that the abortion movement has trotted out. Most people think abortion happens as a matter of rape, incest, or a serious medical condition that threatens a mother's life. It’s a matter of time before the new bold and bloody pro-abortion rhetoric brings the dream to an end.
The day is coming when Americans will see abortion as it is and they must decide between life and death, between convenience and basic human decency. When that happens, when all the rhetoric melts away and all that Americans are left with is the unvarnished truth, once again the rights of the unborn will be protected and those like Kathleen Polit will deserve much of the credit.
Adam Graham is the author of the Screwtape Report which is available at www.lulu.com/content/165415. He was the 2000 Montana State Coordinator of the Alan Keyes Presidential Campaign. He and his wife live in Boise, Idaho. He is a columnist for AmericanDaily.com, RenewAmerica.us, theConservativeVoice.com. and Conservatown.com. You can visit his blog at www.adamsweb.us/blog You can also subscribe to his nightly podcast at feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/blgH
