If you didn’t know I was cynical before reading this post, you’ll know by the time you finish it. Discussions of a government shutdown put Planned Parenthood back on a lot of people’s radars this week. Republicans wanted to defund it. Democrats said that was unacceptable. And our service members wondered if they were going to get paid on time. This week really was a big, fat reminder of why Congress maintains such a low approval rating.
Anyway… A compromise was reached for the budget, and Planned Parenthood’s funds remain unscathed. Unscathed for now, anyway, as a future vote on the matter has been secured. And while securing that vote has certainly been a victory for the Republicans, many feel that it will only serve a symbolic function since it’s unlikely to pass the senate. With Democrats controlling one house of the Congress and the executive branch too, Planned Parenthood’s chances of keeping their funds seem pretty good. And why is that?
As long as I can remember, the discussion has been between two camps: Pro-Life and Pro-Choice. It’s been been put so simply that you can fit it neatly onto a poster.
But since the topic has been brought up, I’d like to add my two cents as to why you’re probably not going to see Planned Parenthood lose it’s funding when it comes to a vote.
Reason one is quite simple: No liberal is going to let Planned Parenthood be defunded on their watch. The idea of that is as equally repulsive to them as a Republican who would vote to abolish the Second Amendment. It’s just not going to happen.
Reason two is where things take a turn for the dark. I must tell you, before continuing, that everything I’m about to say is conjecture on the part of a guy typing on a laptop. I am in no way a certified expert or authority on the following matter. As Jay-Z would say, “these are just my thoughts”. Also, for my following point to be valid at all, one has to believe that government funds DO end up paying for abortions (whether directly or indirectly… an argument this article intends not to hash out). With that disclaimer out of the way, I will now lead you down the rabbit hole.
An odd irony of life is that poverty costs money. One of the biggest strains on any sized government comes from its “poor” inhabitants. A single, unemployed mother with two children can easily receive over $1000/month in assistance from her local government. Statistics vary, but it’s believed that a significant portion of our nation’s inmates come from homes without fathers. If one of that mother’s children grows up to be imprisoned, it’s likely to cost over $20,000 a year to keep them there. Again, I’m just a guy that’s typing, but it’s widely believed that many children who are born into poverty will remain in poverty for all or most of their life. And their children too. It’s not uncommon to have more than one generation of welfare recipients living under the same roof. So when a woman of insufficient means says “I’d like to not have this baby”, the government (and this is purely my opinion) is all too happy to assist her in terminating that pregnancy. When the choice is between a $400-$1200 procedure and possibly sustaining a household for decades, the government is going to see the “procedure” as the most cost effective option.
Now why would I say this? Why would I make such ugly assertions? I feel like 38 years after Roe V. Wade, our nation is still bitterly divided on this issue. We still march. We still have rallies. We still make posters. And we haven’t made much ground since. Both sides are deeply entrenched in their beliefs and hurl slogans at each other from behind those fortifications. But personally, I feel like our society (and millions of unborn children) deserve better than that. All we’ve done for nearly four decades is run on a political treadmill and kill innocent children. And this to me is unacceptable. We need to discuss why we have abortions, why so many unwanted children are conceived, and what steps are necessary to make this madness stop. I don’t expect a 900 word blog to solve any of these problems, but I do intend to launch a salvo over both sides’ trenches in order to start a conversation.
Speaker Boehner’s compromise might not end federal funding for Planned Parenthood (or the government’s perceived role in abortions), but it does have a chance to get us talking about the problem with a renewed energy. For too long we have run on this treadmill and gotten nowhere. Are we a nation that yells slogans at each other or a nation that gets things done? In the past, we’ve been a nation that gets things done. I believe we can still get things done. So even if this vote fails (and it likely will), we can seize this opportunity to better ourselves as a country and society. We can choose to not look at this vote as a victory for Republicans or Democrats. Instead we can ask: What is a victory for Americans? Curbing abortion and the steps that lead us there is the only acceptable answer to this question. Are you willing to answer it? Or will this madness not stop?
