Monday, marchers filled the streets of Washington, D.C. in protest of the 1973 ruling in Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion in the United States. This ruling helped reaffirm the basic right that disallows government intervention in personal matters, which is a fundamental necessity for a functioning democracy.
It seems as though abortion is as divisive an issue in America today as it has ever been; however, it appears the argument set up in most high school and some college government classes fails to address the real issues within this debate.
The anti-choice marchers in Washington yesterday failed to understand the larger implications of this issue. Making abortions illegal is only addressing a symptom of a larger problem. As Hillary Clinton pointed out in her 2008 presidential campaign, no one is pro-abortion.
Pro-choice individuals do not believe that abortion is the best option, but they recognize that sometimes it’s the only option. Hillary Clinton has held that she believes abortion should be “safe, legal and rare.”
Making abortion illegal only amplifies the reality that abortion is, at its very core, an issue of class. Women who remain in the top tier of the American tax brackets would still be able to acquire safe abortions in countries where they are legal, whereas women with less monetary means would not have this option available. This would leave tens of thousands of lower income American women having botched abortions each year.
Creating greater access to quality education, healthcare and birth control will decrease the number of abortions that American women have each year, increasing the standard of living. However, if we leave this argument as it is currently framed, we can never begin to ensure this positive change for everyone.
In an article published on Sunday in the Huffington Post, Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Hillary Clinton’s successor in the Senate, brought light on the fact that the 112th Congress was the first to have fewer women than the generation that preceded it. A fact, Senator Gillibrand pointed out, that became very important during the House of Representative’s war on women last year.
Whether it’s Republicans attempting to defund Planned Parenthood or pull federal funding from hospitals who provide reproductive care to women in danger of losing their lives, it is so important that women are there helping fight these attacks on them and their daughters. If not for the strong, pro-choice women in the Senate, in what state would we be leaving women’s healthcare for the next generation?
Thankfully, Planned Parenthood is still intact, for now. And with the help of the Obama administration, it is now required that birth control be provided by private insurers without out-of-pocket expenses. America is in dire need of more preventative measures similar to this one in order to cut down on the number of abortions performed each year.
With preventative measures, we can effectively create an America where abortions can be legal, safe and rare. However, without the influence of resilient, pro-choice women in government like Hillary Clinton and Kirsten Gillibrand, this reality is one that may never be.
Let’s mark this year as one where we begin to address the real issues – education, health care and birth control. Start implementing measures by which we can ensure women’s health and make abortions as rare as possible. But before we can do that, these marchers need to understand that we’re all pro-life, but we are not all anti-choice.
Michael Patrick is a senior majoring in political science. His column runs on Tuesdays.
