Imagine

 

                                         Imagine

Imagine that Rush Limbaugh was reincarnated as a young Black woman. Come on, you can do it, …think Star Parker. Here is her current screed’s headline: “The cries from the left predicting the end of the world in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe V Wade is a familiar sound.”  She then speaks of “Morality rooted in Biblical Truths” which she alleges provide the rules and framework which “sustain life and living.”  She does this to openly pander to those of the religious right who see abortion as somehow having a negative Biblical connection, which it does not. My previous column detailed exactly how abortion has become “weaponized” by the Right to obtain votes, and morality is a very small part of that for those who are in position to benefit from it.

It would be a fool’s errand, even if it were possible, to ask Ms. Parker which of the numerous “Biblical” contradictory sources and rules regarding the “sanctity of life” she thinks are applicable. Does she mean Genesis which defines life as the first drawn breath? Does she mean the divinely mandated slaughter of 3,000 Hebrews who dared worship a golden calf? If she’s speaking of “precious” then why did God kill the Egyptian young males? Is it the annihilation of an entire city to teach some of the inhabitants a lesson? Or maybe it’s just Far Right evangelical, political, dog whistle politics? Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s it.

This approach is, at least, blatant enough to immediately recognize it as the same old “It’s not sufficient that I am free to believe and worship as I see fit, but you must do so too.” Of course, that applies to Christians only, since Jewish tenets don’t speak to abortion, and Talmudic Law stipulates life beginning with breath. The fetus in the womb is considered part of the mother and specifically excluded in the penalty for the taking of a life. So does this mean Jews favor abortion? Of course not. It simply means it is personal decision not religiously dictated. Many American Christians also share that belief.

Miss Parker ventures much further off the rails as she goes on to speak about the “appreciation for the sanctity of life,” while supporting the idea that states like Texas and Mississippi, where legal executions are still carried out, automatic weapons abound, and school children are murdered as police stand by, should be allowed to impose severe penalties on a woman who chooses to determine her own reproductive fate, even if diagnosed with a fatally compromised embryo or carrying the result of a rape or incestuous assault.

Most of the above are examples of opinion, stated as fact, with the hope that no one will actually perform a reality check. Ms. Parker natters on to say that the Roe V Wade decision caused the collapse of the institution of marriage and of childbearing. She further states that the fertility rate in the United States today is an historic low and well below the rate necessary for the population to replace itself. So, “What's wrong with that?” you say. In the first place the statement regarding the “collapse” of the institutions of marriage and childbearing is simply an opinion which is unvalidated by any statistical analysis. Linking it to abortion is patently ludicrous. While it is true that the birth rate in the United States is insufficient to replace the current population, that fact has little or nothing to do with abortion and everything to do with the post-World War Two “baby boom.” whose progeny are now drawing Social Security and slowly. but surely dying off.

        In the post war era, the average fertility rate for white females was about 120 live births per 10,000 women, peaking around 1950. By 1965, (8 years prior to the Roe V Wade decision!!!) it had declined to 65.3 live births per 10,000 and, contradicting Ms. Parker’s allegation, has changed very little since. By the choice of the people involved, that birth rate is now about two live births for women of childbearing age, or about half of the Baby Boom era. Just like terminating a pregnancy ought to be, family size is a choice. The fertility rate among white women has decreased from 1950 simply because families today are choosing to have fewer children.

        While speaking of insane assertions, let’s detour, briefly, to Fox News talking head Jeanne Pirro. In early May, following the “leak” of USSC intentions re: Roe V Wade, she told the Fox sponges, “My stats, that I have, are that there are 63 million abortions a year in this country.”  I say “sponges” because they will never actually question this blatant lie but will absorb it and certainly repeat it as if it was factual. Pirro was actually exaggerating by a factor of 70!

        While we’re at it, let’s consider that these are many of the same folks who systematically minimized the threat of COVID early on, based on the assurances of what we are, today, being shown is the most corrupt man ever to disgrace the oval office. Covid has, for each of the previous years, killed more than1/3 the number of US abortions, still anti-vaxx indignation and disdain flourishes in the same group of true believers.

        Some statistics related to unwanted births are staggering and tragic: 92% of the roughly one million abortions that are performed in the United States each year are the result of unwanted pregnancy and less than 4% of unwanted pregnancies result in adoption. The literature on foster care is voluminous and experiences vary widely, but for those unwanted births, 96% of whom are unadopted, and end up in the child welfare system, the following statistics are sobering:

In a nationwide study, children who spent their whole childhood in foster care were compared to adopted children who hadn’t spent time in foster care, those who had been adopted from foster care and those living in a variety of family arrangements, including single-mother and economically disadvantaged households. Using logistic regression models, researchers found that kids who’d been in foster care were: seven times as likely to experience depression, six times as likely to exhibit behavioral problems, five times as likely to feel anxiety, three times as likely to have attention deficit disorder, hearing impairments and vision issues, and twice as likely to suffer from learning disabilities, developmental delays, asthma, obesity and speech problems. 

        Finally, Ms. Parker plays the Race card against the Congressional Black Caucus for decrying the USSC decision and saying they support “the culture of death” (yes, she said that!) She points out that single mothers head an inordinate number of Black households. We are, I suppose, left to draw some conclusion that Roe V Wade is somehow responsible for that, too. And in all this, regardless of race, discussion of male responsibility is notably absent. How about that?