peacocks and lilies

In Part I of the series we discussed how the Democratic Party hasn’t really earned the reputation of Sole Defender of Abortion Rights, and that it has used the abortion debate as a scare tactic against women. In Part II we saw how NARAL, one of the biggest money-hogs in the pro-choice political arena, had been raising a ton of money on the abortion issue while simultaneously failing to do anything to protect abortion and failing to tell the truth about Democrats by giving them cover for their cloture votes.

We’ve seen how “committed” Democrats are to this issue. But what are the nuts and bolts of the Specter? How does it work? As the Democratic Party continues to signal further appeasement on the issue with its flashy new rhetoric, maybe it’s time to take a look at some of these arguments against the data to see if they actually hold water.

Back Alley Abortions

Let’s just approach this one rationally, shall we? We know there were a lot of botched, illegal abortion prior to Roe v Wade. We know women died, or were effectively sterilized. I won’t even look up the numbers because I accept this reality. It was awful, and I truly feel for those women. But let’s talk about what they didn’t have.

They didn’t have the freedom to openly express themselves as sexual beings, due to the rigid moral code of the time. They didn’t have access to birth control or emergency contraceptives. They didn’t have access to sex education or frank discussions with parents armed with books and graphics. They didn’t have access to porn. They didn’t have access to Planned Parenthood, and barely had access to safe surgical procedures in general. Medical technology was not what it is today, and they did not have access to a multitude of cheap, accurate early pregnancy tests, the benefit of free pregnancy tests scattered throughout nearly every city, ultrasounds and other neonatal detection devices and procedures, fertility treatments, and the list goes on and on. Reproduction is not what it used to be and I think it’s safe to say that back alley abortions are not coming back, certainly not to the levels they were at before.

Access to Abortion

Democrats often argue that the Democratic Party protects access to abortion. Recently I stumbled across a report on abortion trends in America, released by the Guttmacher Institute, a group that works with the WHO to “advance sexual and reproductive health worldwide.” According to their report, access to abortion has remained static since abortion was legalized in 1973.

Democrats talk about protecting access as if we have lost dramatic ground in this area, and yet, we haven’t. Despite appeasement and inaction on the part of Democrats, abortion access remains virtually unchanged since the 1970’s.

What’s more, government funding for medically necessary abortion appears to be another boogey man. The Democratic Party often decries the Republican assault on abortion funding, but according to the Guttmacher report, the availability of funding for such abortions remains virtually unchanged for the last 20 years.

None of this is to say that abortion rights haven’t been legitimately under attack by a vocal “pro-life” movement. They have. Everyone remembers physician assassinations and clinic bombings. Because of events like that, the inherently melodramatic nature of the “pro-life” movement in general, and the capitalization on emotional manipulation on the part of the Democratic party against Democratic women and men who support abortion rights, we have been striving for preservations we don’t need, and losing ground on those we do. Sex education, for instance. The conversation has been taking place in an hysterical, manipulative environment, and the Democratic Party has helped foster that environment.

Abortion Today

The truth is, just as the specifics of reproduction have changed, so have the specifics of abortion. 90% of abortions these days are in the first trimester, pretty much negating any serious sense of outrage over laws that curb third-trimester abortions, most of which include exclusions for the life of the mother.

Given that, it would make a lot more sense to fight on the front of accessibility to morning after contraception, rather than renewing a commitment to fight for abortion on demand. Emergency contraception, after all, accounts for a substantial increase in access to safe, medical abortion in the last few years.

Conclusion

Those Democrats who argue that the Party is the sole defender of abortion rights will fail to mention a lot of this data, even as they argue that we should give credence to so-called pro-lifer’s “moral” arguments. They won’t tell you that we can afford to compromise because safe, medical abortion is an established, protected right, and technology increasingly makes abortion available at stages that make such quaint moral arguments as when life begins mute. The so-called pro-life movement will be defanged by the spread of technology and information, and abortion will be upheld not because of stare decisis in some SCOTUS case, but because generations of women have grown up with it as an option. Even if Roe v Wade were overturned, it is unlikely that abortion would be universally illegal. Certain predictable states might move to criminalize it, but it remains to be seen what impact that would have.

If we look at the entire picture, without the cloud of melodrama from the “pro-life” crowd, and without the cloud of Democratic emotional manipulation, abortion appears to be a pretty stable phenomenon. What’s more, those clouds serve to shroud what should be more obvious strategies of securing and maintaining access to safe, medical abortion for more women. That the Democratic Party and O-bots argue for a mob-style protection racket on abortion rights is reason enough to distrust them on this issue, especially for ethically-inclined pro-choice advocates. The goal, after all, is reproductive freedom for all.

Update: The first installment of this series has been featured on the front page of Alegre’s (of dKos & MyDD fame) new community blog, Alegre’s Corner. I’ve enjoyed her work for many months now, and am encouraged to see her establish her own community blog. Please go look and register and participate.