Time for the Pro-Life Movement to Be Very Smart | National Catholic Reporter

Time for the Pro-Life Movement to Be Very Smart | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: The only problem Trump had in the Matthews interview was that he told the truth.  Equal protection under the law demands that if you consider a fetus a human being when banning abortion that the statutes on murdering a human being would apply.  Contracting to kill your child is generally punished if the child is considered a legal person and not chattel. That the pro-life movement soft pedals that (although in private many pro-lifers actually want such penalties) shows the extent that the movement is about electoral poltics, not banning abortion through personhood (under Roe there is no other way and Roe is going no where).



As for Trump, when interviewed previously, he said he was 100% pro-choice.  The tape is out there and it will be used.  This is more proof that being "pro-life" is being for baseball. Its something one must agree to, even if one really is not when running as a Republican.  Trump got caught because he did not know the lingo  He was actually trying to think on his feet, which is always tragic for a novice politician - especially when your interviewer is a pro-choice Catholic (whose wife is running as such for Congress) who has spent time shooting holes in the pro-life screed.



The pro-life movement is not a pro-woman movement under any view of that.  It is ultimately about controlling female sexuality - prohibiting it outside of monogamous heterosexual marriage (as well as male sexuality, but not to the same extent - although they hate non-celibate gays).  Why do I know this is true.  Two reasons - first, when you suggest to them that the solution to abortion is paying a child tax credit large enough so that no one would not want their child, they counter that you are paying people not to sin - and to have sex - to which the correct response is that is exactly what social justice demands for every family, even if abortion is not an option.  The second is that the movement is not demanding women priests and bishops.  If the pro-life movement were at all feminist, that would be at the top of the list.



Attempts by Democrats who feel guilty on abortion politics to add the economics are good, but they often turn the cause of life into a bumper sticker - they must also come clean about whether an abortion ban is being sought through the criminal law - and that women who procure abortions would be considered murders (and even if they were not, they would be driven to the ugly days of self-induced and back alley abortions if the doctors were penalized - this time as murderers - you cannot go back to the days when abortion was a fining offense that led to the loss of a medical license.  Not possible if the fetus (or first trimester embryo) is a legal person - Roe does not allow it and Roe is going nowhere.  There are seven justices who say so and the eigth is the second oldest.  Additionally, I have heard no sufficient answer to the fact that if first trimester abortions arae banned due to personhood, that a miscarriage does not become a public event demanding an inquest, if not a full investigation by the police.



The problem with Trump is that he thought things through on criminalization.  The only way for the pro-life movement to be purified is to admit that first trimester bans are off the table forever and that Roe will never be overturned in our lifetime.  While Congress could negotiate a legislative accord on abortion, it would not likely include first trimester embryoes for reasons given, so it would essentially do something for Downs babies and probably specifiy that after 20 weeks, all abortions must be by induction - and would have to give away the store on the child tax credit and aid to Downs families - especially including respite care for parents.



States will never be a laboratory for banning abortion (the Scalia approach) and providing the SCOTUS with another test case.  Messrs. Roberts and Alito vote too often with Mr. Justice Kennedy on baning abortion.  Its time for both the pro-life and pro-choice movements to admit that George W. Bush put an abortion ban out of reach forever. That myth was only good for electoral politics.  Of course, a legislative accord on this would end abortions, but it would also effectively end abortion as a political issue and cause advocates on both sides to lose their jobs. LIke poverty, abortion has always been and will always be with us, unless we wish a sexual police state.  Most people draw that line at that and it is time to realize it.



Trump was speaking the truth all  along.  By the way, aside from one true-believing staffer who sees conspiracies everywhere, most pro-choicers thought the Dorritos add was very funny. It was actually the highest rated ad in the Big Game.  (note that the NFL has more influence on the trademaried use of the term for its championship than either the pro-life or pro-choice movements)