At the center of many of our current cultural debates today is a single figure: me, the global “me” through which people argue the unifying theme of public policy, spending, and law should be a commitment to getting everyone whatever they desire.
Nowhere is that more apparent than on the issue of abortion, where activists have chanted “my body, my choice” for decades. Until now, when the term is collapsing by being applied across the board.
What About Unborn Babies’ Bodies?
Irrefutable challenges from the world of science to corporate abortion’s favorite slogan have permanently undermined that knee-jerk argument for ending innocent life. It turns out that appeals for what “my body” wants can be ignored when those in power want something else. “Me” is not as all-powerful as generations of abortion supporters have led us to believe.
The first flaw in using obsession with self as justification for all abortion is the assertion that “my body” is the only body. As numerous legal briefs in the Dobbs v. Jackson case before the U.S. Supreme Court detail, there are at least two bodies at stake in every abortion. The insistence of abortion activists that the will of the biggest and strongest body should prevail is the kind of argument you would expect from bullies.
They seize their “empowerment” by force, leaving the smaller and the weaker to suffer. One body is destroyed at the hands of another body without any appeal, the ultimate proof of inequality. One body has no choice.
What About the Choices of Unvaccinated or Unmasked People?
A second flaw in the argument has been recently revealed by the sometimes-draconian steps taken in reaction to COVID-19. It turns out that Uncle Sam can force bodies to take steps they oppose.
In New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, California, Minnesota, and New Jersey, Democrat governors chose to put COVID-19 sufferers in nursing homes, causing the tragic and avoidable deaths of many residents. Schools were closed, and teachers’ unions chose to fight to keep it that way, leaving children and parents without options.
Businesses were shuttered, and masks were mandated. Workers struggled to pay bills as jobs disappeared. Nobody could choose to get back to business on his own. In fact, some bodies were arrested for trying.
More than a year later, vaccines are mandated for our fighting men and women, and (in some places) for other groups of people like students, health-care workers, state employees, and even some private employees. And the debate over whether masks are needed goes back and forth with the speed of a tennis match at Wimbledon.
All kinds of bodies have been forced to make drastic changes based on choices made by those at the top. Cheering on those efforts are groups like Planned Parenthood, which quickly made its way toward the head of the line when COVID-19 relief became available.
The one thing corporate abortion does well is get paid. As Family Research Council reported, in the 25 years from 1994 to 2019, the nation’s largest abortion vendor pulled in $9.1 billion in total taxpayer funding.
But the engagement of groups like Planned Parenthood raises an obvious question: Why is it “my body” when the choice is about abortion, but “Uncle Sam’s body” when the choice is about COVID-19 precautions and vaccines?
What About Taxpayers’ Choice to Not Fund Abortions?
And if it is “my body, my choice,” why isn’t it also, “my body, my money”? Someone’s desire for a thing isn’t a justification for dipping into the pockets of everyone in the nation. But for abortion, it’s “my choice, your cash.”
The American people have made it clear in polling that they do not want to pay for abortions here in the United States nor around the world. Yet the Biden administration and House Democrats are trying to open the door for federal abortion funding by removing the longstanding Hyde Amendment.
Justifying the deaths of an estimated more than 62 million infants with a phrase that sounds like a toddler’s complaint was always a shallow play. But given how quickly all the bodies in the United States and around the world have been forced into compliance with countless COVID-19 policies, it’s clear that those in power never believed personal choice was a real argument.
The raw abuse of authority shows that the actual agenda is often “my choice, your compliance,” whether the issue is abortion, COVID-19, or anything else. To truly fix that, we need politicians who understand that their choice as leaders is to assist the people — the bodies who put them in office — with respect for all, the born and preborn among them.
Source: The Federalist
