The Great Abortion Debate That Wasn’t
The leaked SCOTUS draft opinion has rattled abortion politics well ahead of when it was expected. If SCOTUS ultimately overturns Roe v. Wade, abortion regulation promises to be an issue fiercely debated in federal and state legislatures. What impact this will have on the upcoming midterm and future elections is, of course, yet to be seen.
The only problem is … there may not actually be any real debate. As with so many other issues, our binary politics seem hell bent on posing the issue as a binary choice — a total ban on abortions (the so-called “pro-life” position) versus unrestricted abortions (the so-called “pro-choice” position).
Most Americans do not ascribe to either of these extremes. Those of us in the vast sensible middle understand that there is a tension between a woman’s right to choose and the sanctity of the life of an unborn child. Though we understand that many of our well-meaning citizens have a sincerely held moral position that life begins at conception, we also acknowledge that abortions in the case of rape, incest, or danger to a woman’s life involve personal gut-wrenching decisions best resolved by a woman and her doctors. And though we believe early-term abortions should be legal, we are profoundly troubled by post-fetal-viability abortions.
A recent University of Texas poll suggests that even in deep-red Texas, only 15% believe that abortion should never be permitted. An astounding 39% (67% of Democrats, 42% of Independents, and 15% of Republicans) believe that “a woman should always be able to obtain an abortion as a matter of personal choice.” Other polls suggest that there are nuances to this latter position. Only a small minority, for example, believe unrestricted third-trimester abortions should be permitted.
Abortions with restrictions have been the law of the land for the last fifty years. But now this hot-button issue may be kicked back into the political arena. Figuring out how to have a non-binary political debate is long past due. To do so will require voices to be heard from those of us who straddle the political center, those of us who believe in both a woman’s right to choose and a viable infant’s right to life, those of us willing to suffer the slings and arrows from both the left and the right. The inherent tension in the abortion question can only be resolved if we somehow find a way to deconstruct the binary nature of the debate. And maybe find a way to begin chiseling away at our binary politics.
