Irony is dead.
In the wake of the most deadly mass shooting in American history, Republicans in Congress are preparing to introduce the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, a ban on abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
CNN reports:
[pullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Choose life — support health insurance & gun restrictions and oppose capital punishment & police brutality.[/pullquote]
The House of Representatives will vote Tuesday on legislation that would criminalize abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, with exceptions for instances where the life of the mother is at risk and in cases involving rape or incest.
The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which is similar to legislation that failed in 2013 and 2015, has support from the White House this time around.
The divisive issue of abortion has once again been brought to the forefront of national conversations since President Donald Trump assumed office. Trump issued support for the bill even before he won the election.
The same group of people who can’t be bothered to restrict guns, which kill more than 30,000 people per year, are rabid to restrict late term abortions, of which there are less than 10,000 per year. It’s hard to imagine how they could be bigger hypocrites.
Perusing their favorite slogans merely highlights their hypocrisy.
Choose life.
That’s an argument for universal healthcare, not an argument for banning abortions. Curiously, many of those who staunchly oppose pregnancy termination have no problem denying life saving healthcare for others, including children.
The same Congressmen who are enthusiastically promoting anti-abortion legislation had no trouble opposing Obamacare and had no trouble letting CHIP expire last week. CHIP is the program that provides low cost health insurance to 9 million children across the US.
The program, created under a 1997 law passed with bipartisan support during the administration of President Bill Clinton, provided coverage for children in families with low and moderate incomes as well as to pregnant women. It was instrumental in lowering the percentage of children who were uninsured from nearly 14 percent when it started to 4.5 percent in 2015. It was last reauthorized in 2015 and was due to be renewed by Sept. 30, 2017.
Amid unsuccessful efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, the Republican-led Congress allowed the CHIP deadline to pass without action.
Providing health insurance for poor children is choosing life, but apparently for the anti-choice crowd all life is not equal. They are keen to protect life from conception up to, but not including, birth. Once you’re born, your life is worthless if you are poor.
Abortion stops a beating heart.
You know what else stops a beating heart? Capital punishment. Despite that incontrovertible fact, many of those who profess “pro-life” beliefs have no problem letting government stop the beating hearts of those convicted of crimes. If your reason for opposing late term abortion is to preserve life, it is hypocritical to promote mandated death at the hands of government.
They feel pain.
We could argue about whether or not science supports the claim that a 20 week fetus feels pain, but there is absolutely no doubt that everyone born, regardless of age, race or economic class feels pain. So why do the same Republicans who feel they must protect the unborn from pain have no problem letting the people of Puerto Rico suffer in pain, literally and figuratively, in the wake of widespread destruction of Hurricane Maria?
Pro-life means every life has value.
If every life has value, why isn’t everyone supporting Colin Kapernick’s campaign to kneel when the national anthem is played in order to draw attention to the black lives lost to police violence? Those opposing Kapernick justify it by claiming he is disrespecting the flag. That’s a lie, but even if it were true, are we supposed to believe that a piece of cloth has greater value than the life of a young black man?
Abortion is murder.
We could argue whether abortion is murder, but there’s no argument that murder is murder. Guns facilitate murder. Indeed, hand guns and semi-automatic and automatic weapons have no purpose other than to murder or threaten to murder others. If we actually cared about murder, we would ban murder weapons, but you won’t see anyone in Congress stand up to the gun lobby.
These five slogans of the anti-choice movement put its hypocrisy into high relief. The so called “pro life” crowd has no problem being anti-life whenever it suits them. So if ending late term abortion isn’t about saving lives, what is it about?
It’s about punishing women — but never men — for sex.
Providing medical care for children is more pro-life than preventing late term abortion, yet many “pro-lifers” don’t want to do it.
Banning capital punishment is more pro-life than preventing late term abortion, yet many pro-lifers are pro government spondered death.
Relieving the suffering of Puerto Ricans is more pro-life than preventing late term abortion, yet many pro-lifers seem curiously unconcerned about it.
Stopping the wanton police violence toward black men is more pro-life than preventing late term abortion, yet many “pro-lifers” are more concerned about a piece of cloth than actual human lives.
Regulating guns is more pro-life than preventing late term abortions, but when the choice is between right to life and right to guns, guns win every time.
Anyone who wants to choose life should be campaigning aggressively for health insurance for all and gun restrictions and against capital punishment and police brutality.
Otherwise, they’re merely Making Hypocrisy Great Again.
