Opinions

Moore needs to take rational look at catastrophe of abortion on demand

It is telling that the only sensible thing Shannyn Moore said in her commentary on Planned Parenthood (ADN, Aug. 2) is the last sentence of the paragraph she wrote about a conversation about abortion that took place around a campfire: "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." No kidding.

The rest of Moore's piece is replete with red herrings, straw men, and an ad hominem attack wrapped in a flippancy that belies the seriousness of the matter. The issue currently swirling around Planned Parenthood isn't that motherhood is difficult. She writes, "Chances are that women who don't want to be mothers won't be good parents. It's really that simple. Being a mom is hard." To all the pregnant women of the world: you don't want to be a mom because it's difficult? Get an abortion. Moore's argument here is really that simple. Really. I'll give her credit for being upfront about it. But why muddy the waters with the sob story about a 10-year-old raped by her father? The issue surrounding Planned Parenthood at the moment isn't about those relatively rare cases of rape and incest where abortion should be (as many if not most conservatives and Republicans think) an option. And it isn't, as she writes, "Why can't we all get behind prevention of abortion?" (Moore, tell us in detail why this should be so.) That's exactly what we all, at least conservatives and many Republicans, are already behind. And it isn't that women like sex. Well, duh. Would there have been 55 million abortions in the United States since Roe vs. Wade if women didn't like sex as much as men?

The issue also isn't the intelligence of Sen. Mike Dunleavy; he may or may not be very smart, but writing, "Honest to goodness, the thought of Dunleavy's intellect should be enough birth control for the entire state, but I digress" is, as Moore well knows, an ad hominem attack. And what exactly is she suggesting here? The issue isn't the lack of huge numbers of people at one "Defund Planned Parenthood" rally. So what? And it isn't that "some of those in attendance at the rally in Anchorage aren't aware birth control is the primary mission at Planned Parenthood," an assertion that is debatable given, among other things, the origins of the organization in the eugenics movement and its place in the vanguard of the sexual revolution. The issue isn't the science of birth control. No one is disputing the science or trying to prohibit anyone's access to contraceptives. And it isn't the views of the outlier Catholic Sister Joan Chittister. Talk about cherry-picking morality cops!

The current debate about Planned Parenthood isn't about stem cells and cures. That is a separate issue and a debate for another day. It isn't about "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," whatever that is supposed to mean. And finally, the issue isn't, contrary to the headline of Moore's piece, that defunding Planned Parenthood will lead to more abortions, an arguable contention to say the least and which, even if true, begs the question of why more abortions are not desirable if abortion is such a good thing for women.

No, the issue isn't any of those things, as hard as Moore tries to make it so. Here are some facts: Planned Parenthood, among other things, advocates for (that is, takes a public position on) abortion, and its doctors perform abortions for virtually any reason through the second trimester. Planned Parenthood's officials, at the very top, have been caught on video promoting the sale of (oops, the reimbursement for) organs harvested from some of the 330,000 babies its doctors abort each year. Planned Parenthood gets about a third of its funding from taxpayers. (Yes, it's true that by law the money Planned Parenthood gets from federal and state governments may not be used to perform abortions, but it is equally true that taxpayer money used by the organization for other purposes frees up funds received elsewhere to be used for abortions.)

Those are the facts. Here is the real issue: We have reached an overlook on the path our nation has been on since 1973. It is no longer possible, thanks to video provided by the Center for Medical Progress (not to mention the trial and conviction of Kermit Gosnell, as well as the work of other pro-life organizations) for even the most willfully blind of citizens (like, sadly and shamefully, me) not to see where abortion on demand is taking us. If it's OK to have an abortion for any reason at all (e.g. "being a mom is hard"), then why throw away perfectly usable body parts? Why not advance science and medicine and, while we are at it, make some money (sorry, I mean get reimbursed)?

Part of the horror of all of this for me is the growing realization that I have been complicit, a complicity made more damning by my silence. If I as a taxpayer am involved in funding Planned Parenthood, and of course I am, then I am implicated in everything, including abortions, this organization performs. Moore and people who think like her will do everything they can to continue to have us all be complicit in Planned Parenthood's activities. If everyone is guilty, then no one is. I, for one, no longer want any part of it. Stop government money flowing to Planned Parenthood. If Moore and people who agree with her want to contribute to this organization, go ahead. No one wants to stop them. Just leave me and all other taxpayers out of it.

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Moore would do well to be the rational person in this conversation about abortion she so wrongly believes she was around that campfire. Perhaps, if she were rational, she would be able to use her reason to seriously think about why she wants us all to continue to be accessories to the moral catastrophe that is abortion on demand. Could it be to silence the still small voice deep inside of her? Perhaps, if she were rational, she would think, seriously, about why she wants to "get behind prevention of abortions" and then explain to all of us in another opinion piece the results of her inquiry. Perhaps, if she were rational, the continents would move again.

Dave Horwath is a teacher at Barrow High School. He has previously taught for the Lower Kuskokwim School District and for Chicago public schools. The views expressed are his own and do not reflect those of the North Slope Borough School District.

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

Dave Horwath

Dave Horwath lives in Barrow.

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