Monday, May 5, 2014

Privatizing Pro-Life

I’ve always known that the government will never, ever ban abortion.  The Republicans like it legal because they get a secure pro-life votes.  The Democrats like it legal because it secures the single woman vote.  But I’ve also known that if abortion becomes more and more unpopular in our culture, then it will slowly go away.

And just in case people are wondering if that can’t happen ever, see what’s happening in Texas:

When Texas Gov. Rick Perry signed a sweeping anti-abortion law in 2013, he did so knowing the measure faced an uncertain future. Indeed, the law is already winding its way through the legal system, and if its opponents have their way, Texas's reproductive legal code will land in the hands of the Supreme Court.

But such a decision is likely a year or years a way, and back in the Lone Star State, the final judicial score won't much matter.

The law has already had tremendous success in closing abortion clinics and restricting abortion access in Texas. And those successes appear all but certain to stick—with or without the Supreme Court's approval of the law that created them.

There were more than 40 clinics that provided abortions in Texas in 2011. There are now 20 still open, and after the law's last steps of implementation are taken in September, all but six are expected to close. Most of the closed clinics will never reopen, their operators say.

Few businesses could survive a years-long hibernation, and that's all the more true for clinics, providers say. The added difficulty of finding qualified doctors, getting new licenses, and navigating state health department regulations is a hurdle higher than most closed clinics are likely to clear—especially in a state where a sizable portion of the public is vehemently opposed to abortion and unwilling to aid it in any way.

"I can't find anyone to deliver water or resurface the parking lot, because they're against abortion. I can't get someone to fix a leak in the roof," said Amy Hagstrom Miller, CEO of Whole Women's Health.

The last paragraph quoted is key.  When contractors refuse to do business with people who they view as immoral, we see those people get marginalized and eventually shutdown.

Notice that while the laws are placing more restrictions on the clinics, it’s the people who are doing the most damage in that they are not aiding them in anyway.  This is how you get rid of things you don’t like: you don’t pass a law, you simply refuse to do business with them.

The laws that were more “restrictive” were merely safety regulations designed to treat abortion clinics as outpatient surgical centers.  Because that is what an abortion essentially is.  It is a surgical procedure that is more complex than removing an ingrown toenail.

But abortionistas want us to believe that these laws were about shutting down the clinics.  And while that may be the case, it is clear that their ideology trumps women’s safety and that they would rather see women mutilated than give up their precious right to scramble the brains of the unborn.

Pro-life advocates for a long time have believed that if we just vote for the right person, abortion will become illegal.  But the long history of pro-choice Republicans (starting with Ronald Reagan) has proven that while the pro-life voting bloc has influence, they have made no headway.  The Federal courts have repeatedly struck down outright laws against it.  Congress has failed to defund organizations like Planned Parenthood, even with Republican majorities.  And every election features the Democrats dominating the narrative about abortion because the Republicans are too weak-willed to confront it.

It is time the common man do what is necessary to stop the murder of unborn babies.  We need to not associate with people who work for those clinics and refuse to do business with them.  They need to be kicked out of their churches and ostracized.

Only then will we start to see things turn around.  But for now, we are seeing a shift in the culture.  If the trend continues, we may see abortion clinics become a distant memory.