I’ve just finished reading a blistering series of social media responses to state Sen. Wendy Davis’s visit to the Texas Panhandle.
The Fort Worth Democrat — her party’s nominee to be the next governor of Texas — became an instant political celebrity at the end of the 2013 Legislature when she filibustered a bill that would restrict abortions in Texas. The bill became law after a subsequent special legislative session, but Davis made her mark by filibustering the bill to death in an earlier session.
She’s become the No. 1 target of “social conservatives” who will not forgive her — not ever — for taking the position she took. She opposed the law making abortion illegal after the 20th week of pregnancy. Indeed, she opposes government telling a woman that she must complete a pregnancy. She believes that choice belongs to the woman, her physician, her partner and God.
The tirades I’ve read about Davis seem to harp on a single point, which is that Davis condones abortion, that she’s a “baby killer.”
I know this is not going to go over well with some of the more conservative readers of this blog, but I feel the need to make this point.
A pro-choice policy on abortion does not equal being pro-abortion.
A pregnant woman always has the choice on whether to give birth. If she is unable to rear a child, the law enables her to terminate the pregnancy. She also has the choice of delivering that child and allowing someone else to adopt the child. The woman also has the choice of delivering the child and rearing the child herself, or with her husband or partner, or with her parents or some other family member or close friend.
These are choices the woman makes. To suggest that a pro-choice policy on abortion equates to being pro-abortion takes demagoguery to a new level.
My hope is that the campaign for Texas governor will avoid that kind of rhetoric in the months to come. My fear, based on what I’ve seen just today, is that it won’t.
Welcome to my world! I am pro-choice, but I am NOT pro-abortion! I wouldn’t have had an abortion if someone held a gun to my head. Nor would I encourage another woman to have one. At 72, I have lost one friend to death because of an illegal abortion before it was legal, and another dear friend had a botched illegal abortion which left her never being able to bear a child. She would have been a wonderful mother. History indicates that abortion was the primary cause of death of women in the 19th century and it is now in Africa and other 3rd world countries.
So, I believe abortion should be available, safe and legal for those who choose it, or for those who need it, and that is precisely what Roe v. Wade allows in the 1st trimester. The courts said that in the 2nd and 3rd trimesters, the States had an interest and could legislate whatever they wanted. Instead, those would make decisions for other people have only tried to totally kill abortion and have never moved to limit or deny abortion in those trimesters.
If a woman is the victim of rape, incest, or her life will be endangered by a birth, or the fetus has fatal, fetal anomalies, meaning it cannot live outside the mother’s womb, I believe she has the right to choose abortion. This is the same position the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology takes.
Those who demonize people like Wendy Davis and myself, are very arrogant indeed. They have tried to shoot me, thrown rocks at me, threatened my children when they were young and sent me hate-filled ANONYMOUS LETTERS! And, they call themselves Christians. Judge not that you be not judged! That’s Christian theology!
It’s the demonization that is most troubling to me in this context. Thanks for your comments, C.