This week I found myself in an unusual position. A campfire. Okay, it isn't unusual to be at a campfire this time of year, but for me to be the "moderate" in a conversation about women's reproductive rights was a first.
One older woman, religiously devout, and another an ER nurse from the South. Campfire Cage Match.
Oh, I'm not unbiased. I have never wavered in my support of women's choice. Chances are, women who don't want to be mothers won't be good parents. It's really that simple. Being a mom is hard.
The nurse at the campfire had helped deliver the baby of a 10-year-old that was also her half-sibling. The physical labor -- excruciating as it was -- wasn't the hardest part of the situation. The medical condition of the baby was insurmountable. The mental state of a girl giving birth to her father's child is unfathomable.
The nurse wasn't subtle. The other woman responded by saying that baby did nothing wrong and deserved a life.
It wasn't pretty. I was the rational person at the fire. I know. I haven't been that person in this conversation since the continents moved.
Why can't we all get behind prevention of abortions? You know, birth control. It's this thing you can take, and when you feel like it's sexy time you can ... well, this is a family paper, but you get the idea.
Honestly. Is it really groundbreaking that women like sex too? I know this is hard for some people who don't think women are smart enough to be preachers or elders or deacons, but hey, maybe ya'll ain't doing it right. Ladies like it too.
This week Sen. Mike Dunleavy, flanked by what I can only assume is an off-season Santa's elf, joined with about a hundred folks in a "Defund Planned Parenthood" rally. You have to love the cherry-picked morality cops. Honest to goodness, the thought of Dunleavy's intellect should be enough birth control for the entire state, but I digress.
Our junior U.S. senator, Dan Sullivan, sent his message to be read to less people than are dipnetting at any given second on the Kenai. He wants to defund Planned Parenthood. Apparently an edited video has revealed that Planned Parenthood makes a bazillion dollars selling aborted fetuses on eBay.
The stupid is strong.
Clearly some of those in attendance at the rally in Anchorage aren't aware that birth control is the primary mission at Planned Parenthood. Here's science. Birth control cuts down on unwanted pregnancies and abortions. Colorado lowered its teen birth rate by 40 percent in four years. They estimated a budget savings of $42.5 million a year in public assistance programs. How did they do this? Oh, did you think they put in drive-through abortion clinics? You'd be wrong. They got a grant to provide IUDs at low or no cost. Not only did the birth rate drop among teenagers, but the abortion rate fell by 35 percent between 2009 and 2012.
You would think our politicians would look down from their archaic thrones and realize those numbers are a solution.
As Catholic Sister Joan Chittister put it:
I do not believe that just because you're opposed to abortion, that that makes you pro-life. I think in many cases, your morality is deeply lacking if all you want is a child born but not a child fed, not a child educated, not a child housed. And why would I think that you don't? Because you don't want any tax money to go there. That's not pro-life. That's pro-birth. We need a much broader conversation on what the morality of pro-life is.
Amen, Sister Joan!
It's the hypocrisy and misogyny Dunleavy spouts that is unacceptable. Seriously, if my uterus shot bullets instead of babies he'd be fighting for my God-given right to bear arms or not. On his Facebook post regarding Planned Parenthood he writes: "If this is accurate ...," and, "I say possibly because it needs verification. A lot of stuff is written and passed off as factual." There has been no correction. For many years universities and researchers have been using stem cells to understand and cure many diseases. This may be news to some, but it is legal. Maybe cures should be put on a list with things not to watch being made -- sausage, laws and cures. No one ever got pregnant in order to have an abortion in order to contribute to science.
Abortion has been decriminalized in Alaska since before Roe v. Wade. That happened because a Republican majority didn't waste its time shaming women who made personal choices. Those were the days when we had Republican leadership that didn't believe government should be small enough to fit in the most personal space of its female citizens.
The campfire ended when the pro-life lady said she needed to go to bed before she killed someone. I understand this issue brings the passion on both sides. There is a solution. Maybe we should all focus on it.
Shannyn Moore is a radio broadcaster.
The views expressed here are the writer's own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary(at)alaskadispatch.com