With all of the transvaginal ultrasound protests happening right now (and one of which I am taking place in next Monday), I wanted to express my supreme disappointment with the tactic of pro-life politicians in this country.
I was actually excited, although wary, when I heard about the Virginia personhoood bill. It was a clear challenge to Roe v. Wade with the potential to be, like Brown v. the Board of Education, a test case with few distractions. You can't get involved in medical ethics, which is what killed the Oklahoma ultrasound bill. You don't directly refuse health care to the poor while still ensuring that the rich have their rights to abort. You just try to change the law and wait to get sued, so that it can shoot up to the Supreme Court level, which is stacked with pro-life Justices, giving us our best chance since Roe v. Wade to change the law of the land in this country.
This bill had the potential (as presented anyway, I have not read the bill in its entirety but relied on news coverage) to spark a national debate on the issue of when life begins - and nothing else. Yes, other issues would get dragged in, but the debate would focus on the medical, socioeconomic, psychological, and moral issues surrounding the question of when life begins. We would finally be forced to drag this issue out from under the hysterical rhetoric that has been the pro-life/pro-choice "conversation" since Roe. We could finally talk about what an abortion really means both to the woman and to our society at large.
The national discussion that the personhood bill looked as if it would provoke is one that our society desperately needs.
The transvaginal ultrasound bills, on the other hand, are a perfect example of what politicians are doing INSTEAD OF solving this growing problem in our society. In the same way that immigration issues do not receive the attention they deserve, politicians tend to stoke the fires of polarizing controversies rather than address them. After all, there are votes to be gained on both sides of the aisle by keeping the issue of abortion ever-more-hysterically in play.
To conservative, pro-life voters, politicians can say that transvaginal ultrasounds will cut down on the number of women who choose abortion (despite studies saying that the vast majority of women are not affected by viewing the ultrasounds) and thus decrease the number of victims. We can all pat ourselves on the back for saving a few lives without actually addressing the real problem.
To liberal, pro-choice voters, politicians can demonize the other side and whip women up into a fervor over fear of invasive treatment and additional medical costs. Politicians can say that the party ironically in favor of "small government" is seeking to control your moral and medical decisions and force an uncomfortable, occasionally traumatic medical procedure on you, getting you out to the polls.
Pro-choice people know what there is to be feared from this bill, but as a pro-life, liberal voter, what I see most wrong with this bill is the excuse it gives pro-life politicians to pat themselves on the back with their pro-life constituencies when they have, in fact, not done anything about changing the law of the land - or even provoking a more productive conversation on the issue.
I am, in fact, vehemently opposed to the transvaginal ultrasound bill because it is an embarrassing waste of everyone's time and worse - it is a fantastic waste of the crusading spirit of the pro-life movement. Instead of defending this reprehensible invasion of the doctor/patient relationship, the pro-life movement should be trying to bring the discussion of abortion to the forefront with bills like the personhood bill. We should be proposing a new way of viewing abortion and trying to change the conversation so that we can, as a nation, actually have a productive dialogue.
Because you cannot change the law of the land with only half of the people screaming on your side. All you can do is make a lot of noise for everyone.
Don't propose invasive medical procedures for women at the very moment, for many, when they feel more vulnerable than they have ever felt before. That will not endear them to you or your agenda. Instead, provoke a national debate on when life begins. Let's actually talk.
I honestly believe that we have less to fear from an open discussion. I honestly believe that the pro-life movement would WIN an open, responsible, mutually-respectful debate.
So I don't understand why we refuse to have one.
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