Moderates are left out of abortion debate
There are small but very vocal factions on both sides of the abortion debate that drive policy. Members of the religious right assert that life begins at conception and any attempt to disturb it is murder, even in the case of rape, or when it is determined that the fetus will be severely deformed.
On the other extreme, organizations such as Planned Parenthood proposed that women who have abortions should wear T-shirts like breast cancer survivors; they should be proud of their accomplishment. Planned Parenthood maintains that life begins at birth and that a pregnancy can be terminated at the will of the mother, regardless of her age.
Although both extremes are consistent, most Americans are somewhere in between and are often internally conflicted. Many are morally troubled by abortion but do not want it outlawed. Even Sen. John Kerry now claims to believe that life begins at conception, although he supports unrestricted abortion rights.
U.S. Barney Frank is extreme in his positions and fights any restrictions. He supports the right of a child to have an abortion without the permission of her parents. HR 1489 is a bill, currently in Congress, that would require parental notification and intervention in the case of a minor seeking an abortion. I called Rep. Frank's Washington office and was told "he opposes the bill because of his pro-choice stance." According to his congressional aide, he also intends to vote against making it illegal to transfer a child across state lines for the purpose of avoiding abortion laws in her own state (HR1755).
This should be an issue of parental prerogative, first and foremost, not an abortion issue. As an analogy, I am opposed to bringing back prohibition, outlawing smoking or government censorship of movies. But this does not mean that I support the right of children to drink, smoke or see pornographic movies. In society, we require maturity in some decisions. You must be 18 to smoke, 21 to drink or 21 to buy a handgun. Rep. Frank believes that a 15-year-old is capable of making a life-altering decision without her parents' involvement.
His position also prevents parents from monitoring the physical and emotional health of their daughter afterward. Abortion is a traumatic procedure, physically and mentally. According to peer-reviewed studies, 55 percent of the patients have feelings of guilt within eight weeks of an abortion; 10 percent have serious psychiatric complications; 27 percent have significant infections; 3 percent to 5 percent are left sterile; and 2 percent have serious physical complications. The risk of lacerations is 22 percent but doubles for patients under 17 years old.
Most mothers who are anxiously awaiting the birth of their children feel an extreme emotional loss after a miscarriage. If they lose their child in an assault, they would consider the child a victim. Rep. Frank disagrees and voted against Laci and Conner's Law (HR 1997), which specifies that an unborn child killed in an act of violence is a victim. The law specifically excludes abortions; however, Rep. Frank apparently feels that allowing a fetus to be considered a victim sets a bad precedent for abortion rights.
Rep. Frank also believes that it should be legal to terminate a life at any point prior to birth and has repeatedly voted against the ban on partial birth abortion (e.g. HR 760). The partial birth abortion procedure is disturbing to contemplate. Illustrations of the procedure are easily found on the Internet and are very disturbing to view. Personally, I regret that I saw them.
I suspect that most Americans would agree that it is a worthwhile goal to reduce the number of abortions. The most enduring way to accomplish this goal is to change the culture to recognize the value of human life.
I also suspect that most Americans disagree with Rep. Frank in his position that there should be absolutely no limits on abortion or that any child is old enough to decide for herself. The passive majority needs to take the abortion debate back from the extremists on both sides.
Peter Friedman
Mr. Friedman of Dartmouth writes "The Conservative Corner" column for The Standard-Times. His email is conservativecorner@hotmail.com
This story appeared on Page A16 of The Standard-Times on August 19, 2004.
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