Fred Sneesby - Observations on Culture, Faith and Politics

Why the Abortion Issue Won’t Go Away

May 20, 2007

Nuclear Disarmament used to be a big issue. Right before the re-affirmation by President Reagan of the SALT-II Treaty from 1983 onward, the construction and deployment of nuclear weapons was hotly debated. In fact, the United States Catholic bishops issued a pastoral letter on these matters and asked priests to preach about it during Advent one of those years in the early 80’s. In the parish where I was assigned, we actually did that; some people walked out of the church upon hearing these sermons. They thought that the role of the Church was to speak about “spiritual matters” and not military and foreign policy concerns (I will be writing about this next week when I reflect on the late Rev. Jerry Falwell).

The issue seemed to fade away once the two superpowers ended their arms race and began dismantling pieces of their arsenals. Nowadays, nuclear weapons remains an important issue but it has morphed into worries over proliferation and nuclear piracy.

The heyday of Civil Rights has also come and gone. Compared to the fundamental clashes of the 50’s and 60’s, the battles over gay rights don’t have the same fundamental feel. The Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights and Fair Housing Acts all established standards that are rarely disputed.

Some would say that the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision of the Supreme Court, and a few prior decisions upon which Roe v. Wade was built, similarly act as foundations for Women’s Rights. These court cases that established the right of individuals to abort fetuses without restriction didn’t really settle the matter, though, did they? The unrestricted right to abortion is probably more questioned today than ever before. It is hotly disputed. The debate has not lessened and the issue has not gone away.

Why is this?

First of all, abortion rights is not essential to women’s rights even though this has been the flagship issue for women’s groups since the 70’s. The umbilical cord attached by women’s rights advocates between the equality and freedom of women and their right to unrestricted abortion is not real; it is a prop used in place of grappling with complex realities of roles, gender, responsibilities, and choices.

An examination of the supposed connection between abortion rights and women’s rights needs a separate treatment. However, the insistence by national groups and the media on making abortion the paramount woman’s issue serves to keep the debate alive because their claim doesn’t ring true. Many women do not feel like they have made progress as a result of being able to abort fetuses with little or no restriction for the past couple of decades. With abortion rights at its center, the struggle for women’s rights never reaches resolution because abortion is a false focus.

There are other basic reasons why the abortion rights issue does not go away. First of all, the extreme pro-choice stance that says that a person should be able to choose, for any reason or for no reason, to destroy a developing human life up to the point of birth, is so highly individualistic on all levels that it threatens the fabric that holds families and social groups together, it destroys society’s ability to even talk about what is right and wrong, and it undermines the legitimate interest the government has in the welfare of citizens, particularly the most vulnerable. I would refer you to my pamphlet, Searching for a Political Home, for a more detailed treatment of this point. Many voters in the United States sense this even if they are not able to articulate it all that well and so they are uneasy about the present state of abortion practice.

Secondly, abortion is not one among many issues of equal rank. Yes, there are lots of issues politicians will be addressing in their campaigns: the Iraq War, health care, energy, education, jobs, and so forth. There is, though, a hierarchy of issues, some being more fundamental than others, and the issue of the right to life cannot be more basic. Some commentators try to line it up with gay rights and a few other “social conservative” favorites, but the matter of abortion and how it is practiced in the United States is far more fundamental than any of these.

Do voters make their presidential decisions on this issue alone? Probably not, but I wager that many are like me: abortion is a “starting gate issue,” that is, if a candidate is pro-choice, I will not even consider him or her regardless of their other positions. For me, the abortion issue is that fundamental.

Please notice that I have not mentioned religion in connection with abortion. Abortion is not a religious issue; it is an issue that lies at the heart of our capacity to function as a civil and political society. No one should be allowed to dismiss it as a “religious” or “personal” issue.

The abortion issue will be prominent in the general Presidential election. It will not go away nor should it go away. It is not one issue among many but it is a pre-eminent issue of our time.