Some of you will say that if I'm not pro-life, I'm pro-choice, and if I'm not pro-choice, I'm pro-life. As though it's a pure either/or binary. But if it were a pure either/or binary, it's a dilemma. Neither option is good. And Jesus didn't let himself get caught in dilemmas. Look at every time the Pharisees tried to trap him. Look at when his disciples thought they knew his answer. He rose above either/or.
Rachel Held Evans wrote a few posts on the abortion debate within the last few years - I can't find the one I want to link you to right now. I'll keep looking, but suffice to say that it was polarizing. I've already seen multiple responses to her that basically say she's not really a Christian. She's polarizing anyway, for a number of reasons (but Christians like her are the reason I haven't left the faith, to be honest - the fact that when she questions dogma, people listen gives me hope for us yet), but for people like the pro-life single-issue voter I used to be, the stance she took - that current pro-life tactics are generally unacceptable - was harsh, and probably more problematic that some of her other controversial positions.
And while I mostly agreed with her, I didn't really want the backlash. Most of my readers are generally supportive and/or civil, but I still end up with complicated social media threads. I still feel obligated to manage them and monitor for civility and focus. It was a lot, and it didn't seem like there had been a particularly important occasion to write, and who reads this blog anyway? Why would anything I write here matter, in the grand scheme of things?
But then I'm Asking: Please Stop Slut Shaming Kim Davis got 270 hits in two weeks. And people shared it, and commented on it, and maybe there was a little more compassion in the world because it existed. And then part of Congress voted to defund Planned Parenthood, and I thought, "Oh crap, maybe I have to do this." Because these tactics aren't actually going to significantly decrease the number of abortions. Antics like this might not decrease them at all. You see, the government already wasn't funding abortions at Planned Parenthood, but they were funding lots of other things people needed.
Things like mammograms and pelvic exams and Pap smears. Things like annual physicals. Things like contraception to help families decide when to have children. Things that are doing what many pro-lifers claim to want - reducing abortions.
I can't support a movement that is using guerilla warfare (think bombing clinics) and political hostility (think government shutdowns) to claim to accomplish something that isn't being accomplished while the entity that movement has set up as antagonist or nemesis is actually getting stuff done. So for those who didn't follow, I can't support the pro-life movement while it terrorizes Planned Parenthood.
I hope to get out another post soon that's similar to the one on mental illness and self advocacy in terms of what would actually reduce abortions, if Right to Life is interested.
Hint: it's going to mean more funding, not less, for places like Planned Parenthood.
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