Reply #3: They are Pro-Prison. It is the Dem position that is Pro-Life. [View All]

[pat_k]

As is so often the case, the real question -- "Should this nation be putting frightened women, their doctors, and anyone who tries to help them in prison?" -- has been buried in the rigidly established terms of the debate.

Talking about "choice" doesn't put the focus where it belongs, and the word "abortion" has become so emotionally loaded it should be completely stricken from the discussion.

It's time to get off the beaten path and put the focus on what they are actually calling for -- the incarceration of people. The following statement of the Democratic position that I'd like to see does just that.

Short Version

Everybody is pro-life. The difference is, Democrats don't want to put frightened women and their doctors in jail.

Long Version

We are all pro-life. The difference is, Democrats don't think that frightened women and their doctors should be thrown in jail.

Democrats believe women should never have to face such desperate circumstances -- no health care, poverty wages, abusive environment – that the only option they see is ending a pregnancy.

Democrats are fighting to give women more options, so they can be assured that when they bear a child, that child will be loved, protected, and provided for, even if they are unable to do so themselves.

Democrats are committed to true individual freedom, which cannot exist without freedom from fear of economic hardship.

Democrats know that economic security requires access to quality education and medical care. Democrats know that a vigorous private sector cannot exist if work is not properly valued.

Democrats are fighting for our right to equal access to healthcare. Democrats are fighting to guarantee a living wage for every American worker.

Democrats know how critical those first months are in the life of a child; they know paid family leave benefits all of us.

Democrats are fighting to make it possible for families to have confidence they will be able to give their children, and their children's children, the life they deserve.

Democrats know that private industry can only flourish and create prosperity for all when the power of the people to protect their interests is embodied in strong public institutions.

We are all pro-life. The difference is that some of those who call themselves pro-life think throwing frightened women in jail is the solution. The threat of jail did not work decades ago and will not help now. Democrats know we can do better than that.

The difference between "their side" and ours has nothing to do with how much they value life, but when we allow them to commandeer the term "pro-life," we are conceding to their propaganda.

We need to ground our position in some basic truths and moral positions.

The first truth is that they want to throw frightened women and their doctors in jail. They are pro-prison.

The second truth is that being pro-prison has absolutely nothing to do with valuing human life, parenthood, or family.

Morality demands that we take responsibility for the consequences of our actions. It also demands that we do not violently impose our own moral absolutes on those who don't share them.

History tells us that tossing frightened women and their doctors into jail does absolutely nothing to stop a woman from doing whatever she feels she must-- even to risk her own life -- to defend her own mental health.

It is immoral to ignore the lessons of the past and advocate a policy with such awful consequences. (Women and doctors imprisoned, their skills locked away; families broken apart; lives cut short.)

Esteem for human life is the driving force behind the fight to minimize the conditions -- no health care, no job security, no home -- that make it impossible for many women to even contemplate taking a pregnancy to term. This fight reflects a belief that every human being has a right to be free from want and fear.

We value life and can (and should) embrace the pro-life label with pride. It is time to put an end to their monopoly on the term and the ideas it embodies.



See also http://journals.democraticunderground.com/pat_k/1