I can’t understand the need for the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade. Nor do I see a reason for male-dominated state legislatures to get involved in determining decisions that should be between a woman and her physician.

Consider this from Guttmacher.org:

• Eighteen percent of pregnancies (excluding miscarriages) in 2017 ended in abortion.
• Approximately 862,320 abortions were performed in 2017, down 7% from 926,190 in 2014.
• The abortion rate in 2017 was 13.5 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15–44, down 8% from 14.6 per 1,000 in 2014. This is the lowest rate ever observed in the United States.
• In 1973, the year abortion became legal, the rate was 16.3 abortions per 1,000.
• Fifty-nine percent of those seeking abortions are already mothers.
• More than half are medication-induced abortion.

The moral question

This is a question of morality, no doubt. But not in the way you might think. Benedictine nun Sister Joan Chittister, in a 2004 interview with Bill Moyers, noted:

“I do not believe that just because you are opposed to abortion, that that makes you pro-life. In fact, I think in many cases, your morality is deeply lacking if all you want is a child born but not a child fed, a child educated, a child housed. And why would I think that you don’t? Because you don’t want any tax money to go there. That’s not pro-life. That’s pro-birth. We need a much broader conversation on what the morality of pro-life is.”

Foster care

So along with clamping down on abortion rights, don’t we need to revamp the foster care system? And just how do we do that when states already are hard pressed to find good foster parents?

Infant care

Can we find adequate support systems for mothers and infants? Will the daycare system we have in place support an influx of babies? Who ensures loving and supportive care at home in terms of diapers and food and housing?

Pro-Life

I am pro-life because I consider all life precious and want the best for every unborn baby. But I’m pro-choice because I want mothers to be able to turn to doctors when they feel they can’t adequately provide for the baby they are carrying. The label pro-life makes me angry.

Law for 50 years

Roe v. Wade has been the law of the land for 50 years. States already have begun to inhumanely clamp down on abortion rights. More will follow if the draft opinion becomes new case law. Let’s hope the justices reconsider. If they don’t, let’s hope as many states as possible will be enlightened. This isn’t Gilead, and it isn’t 1970s America.

Abortions will continue

Abortions will continue despite what the law says, endangering women’s health. Let’s please not go there. And for goodness sake, let’s don’t try to move one puzzle piece without even nodding toward the other factors.