Scott Walker and Abortion in America

It's been awhile since I have blogged and I probably should have been saying things about Wisconsin's Nazi Governor all along, but this morning he really hit home. Channel 3 News is reporting that Governor Douchebag's now famous Budget Repair Bill repeals the law passed during the tenure of Governor Jim Doyle (Oh how I miss him!) that requires insurance companies to pay for birth control. This idiot has GOT to be stopped. Has he considered the ramifications here?

Not all birth control for women is used to do as the name implies and prevent pregnancy. Many women take it for the hormonal benefits in fighting acne and for helping with painful conditions such as endometriosis. Endometriosis, according to a women's health website, affects 70 million people worldwide. Does Douchebag think none of them live in Wisconsin? Or does he think that women can just suffer the pain? After all, it's not as painful as childbirth. It's also not as intermittent as labor pains and does not go away when the baby comes out. I think God knew what he was doing when he didn't allow men to get pregnant. Candy asses like Walker would likely kill themselves. (Hmmmm...maybe we are onto something there!)

If that isn't argument enough, what about women that are raped or are being continually sexually abused throughout their lives? Yes, ideally, we would prevent these situations, but wouldn't you AT LEAST be glad that the young lady is on birth control and not having children by her uncle or father? Yeah, that's a good idea, Douchebag! Let's take away the ONLY saving grace these young girls have to not be COMPLETELY scarred for life. It's not bad enough that they are enduring the worst kind of abuse. Let's let them get PREGNANT. Good move, Asshole.

Ok, so let's say that we repeal this very necessary law. According to the Milwaukee Sentinel, Governor Douchebag said during the campaign that he is against abortion, even in cases of rape. (Here is where I really get on my soapbox so watch out!) I am sick and tired, fed up and completely disgusted with people who want to preach about abortion being against their religion, immoral, unethical and blah, blah, blah. NONE OF THAT MATTERS!! What these people fail to realize is that none of these factors have any place in law. The laws are created to protect the masses. Remember when Spock was dying in the chamber in Star Trek 2, The Wrath of Khan? His dying words were, "The good of the many outweighs the good of the few or the one." AMEN! (Flashing the Vulcan finger symbol!)

Let's address religion. Religion is the LAST thing our laws should consider. This country's existence is based on the desires of our Founding Fathers to separate church and state. If not for the disgruntlements with the Church of England, who knows what would have happened. We would all likely be Native American, hunting and gathering and carrying water jugs on our heads from the nearest river. Or we would be European and "North America" would seem as backwards and aboriginal as some African countries do to us today. The First Amendment to the U. S. Constitution reads, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion..." It's right there in black and white, ratified in 1791, some 220 years ago. That means that the United States is a virtual bowl of Fruit Loops with each color representing a different religion, all of which are existing together in the same bowl. There are plenty of green Catholics, orange Lutherans, red Jews, yellow athiests and pink Baptists, just to name a few. Each has their own beliefs to form their circle and display their color and perhaps they bump up against the other religions, but their integrity remains and they do not change shape or color and conform to the other religions in the bowl. That is how it is meant to be. Each is entitled to their own beliefs and existence within the bowl. Therefore, no single religion's beliefs should have absolute influence on the laws that govern the entire bowl.

Now let's address morals and ethics. They are a little bit different. As religious beliefs should never be considered in the making of laws, morals and ethics should, but their consideration should be severely limited. I say this only because each and every person in America has their own set of morals and their own idea of ethics. Again, laws should be made for the masses, not the few. If that is done correctly, morals and ethics are not an issue. Only when we have Douchebags like Scott Walker trying to make laws, do they come into question. I can't believe that he thinks that taking birth control away from a woman who has been raped is moral or ethical. Sure, he will argue that he is not "taking away" birth control. He is simply not forcing insurance companies to pay for it. So the 16 year old runaway on the streets in Milwaukee who is still, thankfully, covered by her parents' insurance just has to pray she doesn't get pregnant when she is out turning tricks as a matter of survival. It's ugly, yes, but if Douchebag thinks it doesn't happen in Wisconsin, I have news for him.

The ONLY thing that has a place in our laws is LOGIC. We MUST employ the use of logic in order to make sure the laws are best for the masses and do not cater to the few or the one. Will every law please everyone? Certainly not. I'm not happy that I can't drive more than 65 mph on the interstate. But does it keep me and other drivers safer? Sure it does. And that is why it is the law. It's LOGICAL that slower speeds cause less horrific crashes and enable the driver to better keep the vehicle under control, especially in the event of a blown tire, etc.

Now let's talk about Roe vs. Wade. In 1973, the U. S. Supreme Court ruled that, as part of the right to privacy, women had the right to abortion. This was to be regulated by each state under strict guidelines regarding the age of the fetus (the trimester of pregnancy) and risks to the mother. So what was going on prior to 1973? According to the website http://www.physiciansforlife.org/, 17 states had legalized abortion in 1972, the year before Roe v Wade was ruled upon. In those 17 states, 587,000 women got abortions. That averages out to 34,529 abortions per state. I am sure there was some cross-over (ie. people traveling from other states where abortion was illegal to states where it was legal.) In 1973, when Roe v Wade was ruled upon and abortion became legal in all states, that number jumped to 744,600. So, for the sake of argument, let's say that the numbers of women needing abortions were the same in 1972 and in 1973. That means that 176,600 women, in 1974, got their abortions illegally. What does that mean? That means they had three options. The first was a physician in the United States was willing to do it illegally, probably after hours without assistance and not under the most sterile conditions. This option was the best if the woman was lucky enough to find such a physician. Or it meant traveling to other countries, most likely Mexico, where conditions were not sterile and methods were not medically advanced and, therefore, safe. The person performing the abortion may have been a doctor or he may have been a drunk from the local taberna just looking to make some cash. Or, third, it meant doing it themselves with items such as wire coat hangers. Sometimes women took drastic measures such as drinking poisons or throwing themselves down a flight of stairs in an effort to dislodge the fetus. Is this really what Douchebag is suggesting we return to? I submit that it is.

The bottom line, and my well-thought-out-but-rambling point here is simple: In the year 2011 in the United States of America, the most technologically advanced nation in the world, WE CANNOT SEND WOMEN BACK TO ALLEYS WITH COAT HANGERS!! Forget about religion, ethics and morals. It is ILLOGICAL that we would allow this to happen. If a woman desperately wants or needs an abortion, it is clear that she will find a way to get one. Shouldn't we protect her so that it is at least safe? In 1983, just 10 years after Roe v Wade, 1,575,000 women got legal abortions. How many of them would have gone to the drastic measures I mentioned above if not for Roe v Wade? Regardless of whether or not we think abortion is right in the eyes of God...whheter or not we think it is moral...whether or not we think it is ethical...it IS going to happen. Did we learn nothing in this country from the 18th Amendment (ratified in 1919) that outlawed the use of "intoxicating liquors" and established an era in our history known as "Prohibition?" Well, in case you have forgotten your history lessons...IT DIDN'T WORK! It was repealed by the 21st Amendment in 1933, but not until we saw a HUGE boom in violent and organized crime. We repealed it because we realized it was causing more problems than it solved. People who wanted to drink were going to do it, regardless of the law. John D. Rockefeller (Recognize that name?) wrote the following words to the Supreme Court:

"When Prohibition was introduced, I hoped that it would be widely supported by public opinion and the day would soon come that the evil affects of alcohol would be recognized. I have slowly and reluctantly come to believe that this has not been the result. Instead, drinking has generally increased; the speakeasy has replaced the saloon; a vast army of lawbreakers has appeared; many of our best citizens have openly ignored Prohibition; respect for the law has been greatly lessened; and crime has increased to a level never seen before."

Abortion is no different. So save your religious arguments. Save your ethical ramblings. Save your moral high horse. Abortion MUST remain legal to keep those who will do it anyway, safe. It's the logical thing to do. And it starts with not taking away the only ability some women have to obtain birth control. Scott Walker is a dictator and a dangerously misguided politician with unfortunate power. But, as Abe Lincoln said in the Gettysburg Address in 1863, "...this nation under God shall have a birth of new freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth." Scott Walker must go.

(Getting down off my soapbox...)