The Abortion Issue

Not all of these entries can be about bland daily routine or sappy superficial insites to the ways of the world. Once in a while I just have to get political. I learned something interesting today in law school. I've learned a lot, not much is interesting to most people. This should be. How many times has the Supreme Court had the opportunity to repeal Roe v. Wade? Basically, how many cases have come up in which the Court had the opportunity to limit its previous findings? The answer. 31. There have been 31 times in which the Court could've limited the power of Roe v. Wade and they haven't. For those conservatives out there, they won't-ever. I don't care if John Roberts is confirmed and Clarence Thomas is cloned and confirmed to replace O'Connor. Anyone with the intelligence to reach the Supreme Court has the intelligence to seperate their religious beliefs from their job. I like John Roberts. He's ridiculously intelligent, he's got a ton of experience arguing cases in front of the Supreme Court and people, let's face it, we'd all be lucky to have a family as beautiful as his. He has too much respect for the Court and for the Constitution to overturn or encroach upon that decision. I'm confident he will strictly interpret the Constitution and adhere to court precedent. I question George Bush's decision to elevate Roberts to Chief Justice. Roberts is 50, assuming he's a healthy guy, he should live to about 80 or so. He's getting a 30 year appointment as the highest judge in the land without any experience on the Supreme Court. But seriously, the guy is crazy charismatic. Hopefully his intelligence and respect equal his charisma.
So what is a concerned Conservative with a solid moral background to do about abortion? That's easy-vote Democrat. I mean honestly, why do people get an abortion. Three clear reasons I can pick out:
1) They're a teenager in a very conservative small town who feels like they'll be ostracized for becoming a teen mother. This can only be blamed on the conservative and religious nature of so much of small town America. Frankly, I think these towns and the people in these places should be ashamed of themselves for alienating instead of embracing teen mothers. Teen mothers don't have to be told they fucked up, they need to be helped and held by the people in their communities.
2) They're a career oriented woman who believes that having a child will end or ruin her career. Childcare in the workplace could solve this, or at least help to. I mean even if 100 women decide to have the kid because they know they'll have childcare, wouldn't it be worth it to the Christian Right. You think childcare in the workplace is an idea conservatives are comfortable with? I think not, it's something that Democrats would put on the table. A Conservative would NEVER allow this.
3) They're a woman living in poverty who not only doesn't have healthcare but certainly won't be able to afford daycare. The only thing a Conservative hates more than giving daycare to a career oriented woman is giving daycare to some poor black woman on the Southside of Chicago.
I'm pretty sure I've seen a couple of Christian Coalition commercials saying a childs life is priceless. It's not priceless. Saving the life of children has a price. That price is higher taxes to fund better healthcare and daycare for mothers that otherwise wouldn't have it. We pay higher taxes and a couple hundred, maybe even a few thousand unborn children are saved. Conservatives would argue that higher taxes are inefficient to the economy. You're goddamn right they are, but hey, that's the price of those kids lives. You think passing a law saying a woman on the southside can't get a safe abortion is going to keep her from getting an unsafe one from the deadbeat doctor whose had his medical license stripped and is operating from shitty apartments in her neighboorhood. Doubtful. Conservatives don't get this, not because they're not capable of getting it. They have this ideology about the law-that it should reflect the laws set forth by our religions and it shouldn't. Passing a law is so rarely the end all solution to something. It's so hard for liberals to articulate this in a world of 24 news networks. You'd think that with news on all the time we'd get a less superficial view of the ideologies of politicians but we don't. People have 30 second attention spans, people don't read any more. If a friend of mine got pregnant and wanted to get an abortion I would do anything, including babysit, change diapers and give her money so that she didn't have to go that route. I would beg her. Hell, if I were in a position to I'd adopt the kid. But if I was President I'd never ban abortion, because that's an "easy" remedy to a problem with no easy solution. It's a cop out. Fix the problem, don't say you're going to appoint judges that'll overturn the case to boost your approval rating. I could NEVER do that as a President because I know I'd be doing it for a vote, and not to truly help women who need it.