Pro-Life is Mostly About Sex

Watching these GOP men slipping up and getting caught expressing their true hateful views on women, abortion and rape, calls to mind a pivotal event in my life that started me toward a path away from right wing ideology. In my early-teens, I was at church and the pastor went into a spittle flecked, red faced, vein bulging rage about abortion. He wasn't concerned with the life of the fetus, he was enraged that a woman could sin and then escape God's punishment by getting an abortion. Back then the anti-choice people hadn't become skilled at playing the “I'm so concerned for the life of the fetus” game. I watched over the years as the pro-life crowd has evolved the “I'm so concerned for life” strategy. It turns out to be an effective strategy, since it is a valid position if one really does care about life. But you know, you can tell if their concern for life is real or fake by whether their concern for the fetus ends at birth and whether or not they support life in other instances. How many times do you see these GOP politicians rant and rave about the life of the fetus but when it comes to helping out young single mothers with education, child care and enriched early childhood development, they couldn't care less?
There is a tried and true method that prevents almost all abortions without infringing on the rights of women. If the GOP was truly concerned about the life of the fetus and stopping almost all abortions, they would support responsible early sex education and easy free access to birth control. This has worked everywhere it has been tried and results in an abortion rate close to zero after subtracting for those abortions that are medically necessary. For example, see the Netherlands where they have the lowest abortion and teen pregnancy rates in the world. Contrast this to abstinence only states that have the highest teen pregnancy rates in the country. The Republican opposition to sex education and easy access to birth control is telling, it comes back to the attitude of my pastor all those years ago, the real concern is not about fetuses or life, it is about women having sex and not paying the consequences. That is what gets these GOP men into such a lather.