Civility must be added to abortion debate
You can tell it's fall in Geneva by the sea of white crosses temporarily adorning the St. Peter Catholic Church front lawn. Each cross was intended to represent one of the more than three thousand abortions that take place in this country every day.
While I applaud the thought behind this endeavor, as it is with most symbolic acts, it's literally the least you can do. I can't help but think that time and effort would be better spent addressing the reasons some women choose abortion in the first place.
I bring up the crosses because of my dismay over the U. S. Supreme Court essentially shooting down a group whose attempted symbolic anti-abortion act actually had some teeth. By refusing to hear the case, the Supreme Court let stand a federal appeals court ruling affirming Illinois lawmakers were correct in keeping abortion sentiments off license plates.
Now, my wife and I are about as pro-choice as you can get, but neither one of us has any problem with anyone who wants to display a "Choose Life" license plate. Remember, they don't call us "pro-death" for a reason. Most pro-choicers aren't thrilled with the idea of abortion. It's just that we like the idea of telling a woman what to do even less.
The sad thing is, had Choose Life Illinois won their court battle, funds from those plates would've gone toward pregnancy help centers, adoption agencies, and organizations that help foster and special needs children.
What really bothers me, though, is the reaction of Planned Parenthood of Illinois CEO Steve Trombley. He told the Sun-Times they're pleased with the court's decision because, "License plates are not the place to have a thoughtful conversation on reproductive rights."
Mr. Trombley certainly has a keen perception of the obvious. The average license plate couldn't surrender a good Tweet. And I know the Sun-Times called him, but did he have to wade into a debate that didn't involve him to begin with? There are times even a journalist prefers to hear the words "no comment."
"Choose Life" isn't exactly an incendiary sentiment and what's the worst that could happen? Some women might not have abortions? The horror! And Trombley's comment is somewhat disingenuous coming from an organization that takes money for performing abortions.
All this just when, even if it's only millimeters, I thought we were making headway on the abortion discussion.
Two years ago I encouraged Pro-Life Action League Communications Director Eric Scheidler to, instead of protesting Aurora's Planned Parenthood clinic, channel the PLAL's energy into opening a facility that offered an alternative.
I know, I know -- the protests continue -- we need to measure progress here in small steps. But with the help of the PLAL, the Catholic Church and private donations, the Waterleaf Women's Center opened one block away from Planned Parenthood in September.
"The center's primary mission is to provide a safe place for a woman considering an abortion to discuss her problems and either provide or make sure she gets whatever social services she might need," Scheidler said, "We can't stop a woman from walking a block down and getting an abortion, but at least we can offer an alternative."
I'm all for that!
Of course when I tangentially mentioned Waterleaf to a Planned Parenthood spokesperson it didn't go over well. But, as far as I can tell, the center doesn't try to hide their affiliation nor do they pretend to be something they're not.
The problem is, if the PLAL started helping little old ladies across New York street, Planned Parenthood would automatically attack it for some ulterior motive and vice versa. As we speak, the PLAL is going after Planned Parenthood for attempting to add 11 parking spaces at the clinic. Sheesh!
There are times I'd rather referee a horde of already hyped up on sugar 4-year-olds arguing the merits of Barney versus the Teletubbies than attempt to lend an air of civility to the abortion debate, but someone's gotta do it. Although, that my voice might actually be the sane one in any discourse really scares the crap out of me.
Like I might suggest to my fictional 4-year-olds, if you can't play together nicely then please simply ignore each other. Perhaps Mr. Trombley could resist the urge to comment on whatever Eric Scheidler's had for breakfast and the PLAL could forget about parking places and put their energy into the Waterleaf Women's Center.
One step at a time!
jeffwardsun@sbcglobal.net
