Unknown Buddhist

The abortion debate has been presented as a battle between religious faith versus personal freedom, where people argue their values, usually via screaming. When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade, several glib ‘right-to-life‘ speakers on MSNBC stated ‘God’s power’ had come forth. Yet, just as expected, upon waking this morning, God sent no angels, no great trumpet sounds screeched throughout the sky, and God’s elect had not gathered from across the world. The Lord did not descend from heaven, people did not rise from the dead, and no one was caught in the clouds (at least that I could see). 

What did continue was a different America. An America comprised of white trumpism, masked in supremacy, peddled as truth, and armed in hatred. Yeah, a superiority birthed in towns like Jerkwater, USA. It turns out that Jerkwater wants to control every aspect of life, from impregnation to death. They want to prohibit selected books and regulate how teachers educate while simultaneously allowing bonehead Jerkwater assholes to obtain assault weapons and use children as target practice. However, if you read a Catholic Respect Life press briefing, you’d have thought Shangri-la had arrived. “Jackpot, baby. Jackpot.”

However, the Catholic Church offered a typical non-response response. Cleveland’s Bishop Malesic’s statement [in part] stated that he wholeheartedly applauded the reversal of Roe v. Wade. Roe ensured the preborn were outside the protection of the law and had no constitutional right to life. Now that Roe v. Wade has been overturned, states will again be able to protect the lives of preborn children and, in doing so, also protect millions of women from the tragic consequences of abortion.

Bullshit. 

The Catholic Church remains unready for Roe’s reversal. Yeah, the Church’s Respect Life Apostolate claims to advocate for policies that protect a person’s life from conception until natural death. As legislative issues arise, the church claims to advocate for laws that reflect the sanctity of all human life. However, that does not include respecting the life of children that priests molested. Although Bishop Accountability (an organization that tracks accusations) lists more than 6,400 priests or other Catholic Church personnel who have been accused of sexual abuse, no database tracks how many priests have been prosecuted for child abuse. In France alone, 333,000 children were abused. 

The Catholic Church did not establish any Office of Pedophile Prevention (joked in September 2021). I once inquired the Respect Life about programs for 60-year-old black homeless men. Or programs for a 40-year domestic abuse victim. The associate confirmed the Respect Life effort was targeted toward abortion prevention. I ended the conversation by suggesting the ‘Respect Life Apostolate’ rename itself to the ‘Office of Pedophile Prevention.‘ Focusing on that effort would do wonders for, quote, ‘respecting life.’ A good list resides pedophilia cases resides on Wikipedia, including resources. But the Catholics are not alone. 

In response to an explosive investigation, top Southern Baptists released a previously secret list of hundreds of pastors and other church-affiliated personnel accused of sexual abuse. The 205-page database includes more than 700 entries from pedophilia cases from 2000 to 2019. Unfortunately, the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee mishandled allegations of sex abuse, stonewalled numerous survivors, and prioritized protecting the SBC from liability. 

Last but not least, there are the Boy Scouts of America. Over 92,000 sexual abuse claims were filed with the bankruptcy court before November 16, 2020. There were nearly 2,000 reported cases of abuse within the Boy Scouts of America before 1994, and at least one abuse incident as recent as 2006. On December 28, 2020, seven lawsuits were filed against The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) for allegedly covering up decades of sexual abuse among its Boy Scouts of America (BSA) troops in Arizona. On September 15, 2021, it was agreed that the BSA and LDS Church would end their affiliation. The LDS Church was the BSA’s largest single sponsor.

States ending abortion aren’t ready for the post-Roe world either. Many states are unwilling to provide new babies and families the educational, medical, or financial support they need to lead healthy lives. Middlebury College economics professor Caitlin Knowles Myers anticipates that as many as 75,000 people who want an abortion but can’t get one will be forced to give birth in the first year post-Roe. Those births will predominately be in the states with the most draconian post-Roe abortion restrictions. And with a few exceptions, those 22 states rank in the bottom half of states in the comprehensive support they provide to children and their families, according to the State-by-State Spending on Kids Dataset compiled by Brown University.

With a near-total abortion ban looming in Texas, advocates and experts say the state’s support systems for low-income mothers and children are already insufficient — and won’t easily bear an increase in need.

“When you say ‘social safety net’ in Texas, it sounds like a joke,” said D’Andra Willis of the Afiya Center, a North Texas reproductive justice group. “Everything they could have set up or increased to protect people if they really cared, they’re not doing it here.” Pregnant women in Texas are more likely to be uninsured and less likely to seek early prenatal care than the rest of the country. As a result, they’ll give birth in one of the worst states for maternal mortality and morbidity. And low-income new parents will be kicked off of Medicaid sooner than in many other states.

Returning to Bishop Malesic’s statement, you know, the one where he wholeheartedly applauded the reversal of Roe v. Wade. The very reversal that will allow states to be able to protect the lives of preborn children and, in doing so, also protect millions of women from the tragic consequences of abortion. I request them to ponder my original questions posed in my blog essay “Real Solutions Never Fit.” Unfortunately, none of them have yet to be answered. Questions must be asked, and answers must be given. 

• Does secondhand smoke harm an unborn child? If so, how do you propose to protect the child?
• If secondhand smoke does indeed inflict harm, do we punish the mother for allowing damage to her child, or should we punish both the mother and smoker? 
• The automobile is excellent for personal freedom, but exhaust fumes are cancer toxins. Should a car owner be punished for assault if their vehicle passes a pregnant woman? 
• Can a child sue their next-door neighbor for cancer-causing toxins twenty years later? 
• If “personhood initiative” backers want to be fair, shouldn’t society ban air fresheners, ammonia, bleach, antifreeze, drain cleaners, laundry detergent, and oven cleaners? 
• Why don’t right-to-life advocates jail company executives who produce toxic products that stores stock and sell? And how do we prosecute those local store owners? 
• If a pregnant U.S. citizen travels overseas and experiences a miscarriage in another country, how do we investigate and apply proper jurisprudence? Or do we perform extradition back to the country where the crime occurred? 
• Can abortion doctors be tried for crimes against humanity? If not the doctor, how about the mother? And if not, why not?
• Should society charge parents for allowing their children to play full-contact sports such as football, thereby exposing them to potentially certifiable head trauma?

The potential and likely consequences would be a substantial widening of stark inequalities already existing in social support available to mothers and children. But few folks are interested in real solutions, for real answers are never black and white. So instead, the next atrocity to be addressed will be an attempt to overturn the constitutional rights for access to contraceptives and LGBTQ rights. Fortunately, Jesus left some advice.

Jesus never condemned abortion or the LGTBQ community. However, he said, “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and drowned in the depth of the sea.” A man who betrays what everything God is about shouldn’t preach about God’s love. Therefore, may your life be filled with shame. And I sincerely wish it to be long.