Nearly fifty years have passed since a landmark ruling sanctioned women’s rights to have abortions without excessive government restrictions. Over that time, this topic has morphed into a cottage industry that enriches political insiders while polarizing Americans along ideological lines. The leaked memo that outlines the Supreme Court’s intention of overturning Roe vs Wade will only erode the public discourse and induce strife during time we desperately need civility the most.
Such is the tragedy of our politics; rational conversations have been made impossible by extremists on the fringes who are dictating social norms. Let me state something that should be a given but has become an outlier in a political zeitgeist that values cancellations and diminishes cordiality. I believe in maximum freedom of choice; we have a right to lead our lives as we wish as long as people’s actions do not infringe on the rights of others or don’t endanger the broader public.
My reverence of freewill is unwavering and is not limited to the issues I believe in; I do not advocate choice in one breath while denying those rights to people who do not think like me. Consequently, I have no standing to tell a woman what to do with her body; until I am able to endure the excruciating pains of pregnancy, I will opt out of lecturing women about something as difficult as the decision of bringing a life into this world.
Beyond my personal stance, there is a broader agenda behind the issue of abortion that truly bothers me. While there are many on the Pro-Choice and the Pro-Life sides who care about this matter deeply and are moved to action driven by personal experiences and a desire to give voice to the voiceless. However, there are demagogues within government, media and moneyed interests who weaponize abortion to incite emotions and balkanize America. Roe vs Wade has become a lethal arrow in the quiver of those who maintain power through divide and conquer.
This should go without saying, women are not out here having abortions for sport. Every woman I have talked to who terminated her pregnancy struggled with the decision both in the moment and long after the procedure was completed. A significant percentage of abortions, most likely the majority, are sought by women who do not have the means nor the support to take care of a child.
Let us hold an economic system that lavishes privileges on multinational corporations and the globalist oligarchy while impoverishing humanity accountable instead of blaming women who turn to abortions out of desperation. To this end, banning abortions will only drive women to extreme measures to terminate pregnancies that will end up imperiling them in the process.
If our aim is to minimize abortions, we can go a long way towards this goal by making sure that women are paid fairly for a fair day’s work, by narrowing the wealth gap so that less would-be mothers are living in poverty, lowering taxes significantly for the poor, working, middle-class and upper-middle-class and investing in the communities so that women have a support system instead of being indentured by jobs that are turning human beings into Wall Street chattel.
It is time to stop fighting over abortion and instead seek a common ground that will preserve choice while minimizing the number of terminated pregnancies.
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I believe that vast majority of Americans are thirsting for political leaders to talk with nuance about hot-button issues like abortion so that we can move towards solutions instead of bashing each other based on tribal thinking. It is clear that both Democrats and Republicans have zero intention of healing our breaking nation, they would rather keep ripping open old wounds and inciting our emotions the better to keep us distracted from economic policies they are enacting that benefit a few while pillaging humanity.
Let us finally turn the page on the politics of division and ideological fundamentalism and instead seek common grounds. Yelling past each other is only leading us further away from justice, if we want America to start working for We the People, we must listen to one another. That is why I am running for Congress as an independent, it is time for authentic changes instead of recycling the duopoly and getting the same result.
I will leave you with this closing thought, all these red meat issues that we keep fighting over become irrelevant the minute poverty and homelessness come knocking at our doors. We are being bracketed by inflation, stagnant or receding wages and rampant hopelessness that have become the new norm for tens of millions of Americans. If we do not get our act together and unite in ways that transcend our differences, the abortion we will all be faced with is the termination of our jobs and the conveniences too many take for granted.