Debating abortion
Tonight's presidential debate is sure to cover abortion, and I'm not expecting surprises.
Tonight Donald Trump and Joe Biden will have their first presidential debate for this election. RFK has also promised to answer the same questions posed to Trump and Biden, live, since he is not included in tonight’s debate.
Abortion will certainly be raised, and as far as I know, this is where the candidates stand:
Biden: use federal legislation to return to the rules set in Roe
Trump: continue allowing states to set their own rules (his conservative allies would like to also ban the use mifepristone and use the old Comstock Act to basically outlaw abortion on a federal level)
RFK: allow abortion until a “consensus” date, probably 15 weeks since that is what conservatives are calling “consensus”
None of these are great options. RFK said in his Instagram post on abortion that he has recently learned that women are choosing to end viable, healthy pregnancies very late, and essentially killing their babies. This is similar to Trump’s claims that mother and doctor deliver the baby, and then decide to kill it. Perhaps people believe this nonsense because it is so horrific we would of course need to do something if it were true (like the Hampstead Hoax conspiracy). I don’t know where these stories come from (Trump and RFK did not name their sources), but the actual data is as follows:
According to Pew Research and the CDC, 93% of abortions in 2021 (before Roe was overturned) occurred before 13 weeks; 6% between 14-20 weeks, and 1% after that. In addition, Pew found 2% of all abortions involve some kind of complication.
It might look as though RFK and the Right’s so-called 15-week consensus makes sense, then, if most abortions occur before 13 weeks. The problem, as we’ve seen since Roe was overturned, is that laws that dictate how doctors can treat patients do not work in practice. Rather, it means doctors cannot treat patients properly. I’ve never been pregnant, but I like to think I’m pretty well read on this subject, and I’ve learned that there are a million different things that can go wrong in a pregnancy. Legislators don’t know all of them. There have been countless stories from women who nearly died (and one who did die), or suffered unnecessary medical emergencies because they could not get abortions they needed.
What’s more, by limiting access to abortion, clinics are overwhelmed and women who seek abortions very early can’t get appointments. Doctors who are afraid of how these laws will impact their ability to treat patients move to more liberal states. Pregnant women are left in maternity deserts, without access to care they need. This is not a good situation for supporting life.
My problem is this: by allowing a public discourse about what my choices should be for whether or when to have a baby, I am further sidelined as a human being.
But my biggest problem with the abortion debate is not with the details — those details should be moot because they are no one’s business. My problem is this: by allowing a public discourse about what my choices should be for whether or when to have a baby, I am further sidelined as a human being. I am furious that my personal decisions are up for debate among a bunch of people I have never and will never meet simply because I am a woman.
And it’s not new. Should women be allowed to wear pants? Should they be allowed to not wear high heels? Sleeveless shirts? Should they even be allowed to work? Should they be allowed to vote, get divorced, have their own credit cards, use birth control?
Historically, we have not been easily trusted to make decisions about all the things men get to do without a second thought. AND YET…who is responsible for men and controlling their bad behavior?
I adore my father. He has six daughters and no sons. As far as I can tell, his only goal in life is to keep us all safe. But it is frustrating to me that one way he keeps us safe is by reminding us how to protect ourselves from bad guys. Keep an eye out for any sketchy looking men. Don’t walk home alone. Check your backseat before you get in your car. I’m sure you can fill in dozens of other examples. Why are we expected to be responsible for men’s behavior, but can’t be trusted to manage our own?
The candidate closest to allowing women bodily autonomy is Biden, who I know would not use the Comstock Act to make abortion illegal and would support a federal law that allows abortion before fetal viability. My hope is that this law would also mean that there is zero debate about whether a doctor could give a woman an abortion if she required one later in pregnancy. I don’t know if that is possible, but it seems Biden’s position is the most likely to get us there.
I would also warn that conservatives who want women to have more babies should think through the implications of letting this debate play out for any longer. I may not want kids, but all this talk about making me a second-class citizen simply because I’m capable of pregnancy has definitely not made it more appealing.