Guest author: Why I believe upending Roe v. Wade may be a very good thing

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Here is some thoughtful analysis from a guest author in the aftermath of the overturn of Roe v. Wade. The author has asked to remain anonymous.

First, allow me to preface my talk – I am pro-life, but not anti-choice.  What I mean by that, in a nutshell, is that I believe abortion is morally wrong, but I do not believe that abortion should be banned.

[Have you noticed how often one must produce these disclaimers? — Simply because we are afraid of being misunderstood before we even get started.  It’s the headline syndrome. Onward we go.]

For a very long time, pro-life and pro-choice has presented as two distinct camps, completely at odds with one another.  Years ago, with every attempt at expanding access to abortion, be it removing restrictions based on length of gestation, or channeling funds to clinics via government, the most prominent mantra was “Legal, Safe and Rare.”  The message resonated with someone like me, who knows that I cannot possibly understand everyone’s unique situation.  I can accept a compromise regarding the abortion issue.   My focus has always been, and continues to be, working on how we, as a society, can improve on and ensure that abortion is truly rare.

Gradually, however, the messaging has seemed to shift. At first, people told us not to worry, no one thinks late term abortion is good.  Now, we start to see pushes for abortion to be legal up until birth (for example, in Vermont and Colorado), which people all across the spectrum find to be horrifying.

Concerns that abortion is becoming a form of contraception is alarming to those who were told abortion will be rare.  Even worse, we see events where women are encouraged to “shout their abortion,” in order to normalize and support abortion.  Only, I am not sure a t-shirt claiming “I Aid and Abet Abortion” is persuasive to the opposition.

For decades, there have essentially been two very loud groups, on opposite sides of the road, screaming at each other, while the needle does not budge.  Nothing has changed for 50 years.

But, now, Roe v Wade has been overturned.  Are we shocked?  Did no one see this coming?  Even RBG indicated she thought Roe was argued incorrectly, and may be overturned.  The pro-life or anti-abortion side has not been secretive about what they were trying to accomplish for these 49 years.

A few days after the opinion on Roe was finalized, I sat in the kitchen for hours with my grown children.  They had question, and fears, and worries.  They had been told by their friends that this means that contraception will be outlawed soon.  I reminded them that we have since legislated access to birth control via the Affordable Care Act, which was upheld in the courts.  I cannot remember ever  — EVER — having such a  lengthy, profound and mature conversation with them (especially since they fought like cats and dogs, even into their college years).  All of us have different, but strongly held, beliefs on the topic of abortion.  Yet, there was no name calling. There was no shouting.  We had an insightful and informative debate.  We discussed how many of the issues they worry about can be, and should be, addressed in legislation.

As a nation, we can no longer divide into two extreme camps and rage at one another about these contentious issues.  Now, we must do the work.  The work will require the majority of us to actually talk, convince, persuade and collaborate on the legislation we would like for our representatives to pass.  Congress should have been doing this all along, instead of writing 2000 page omnibus, kitchen sink bills. Perhaps, they can do the jobs they are elected for – address these difficult issues, one by one.  Write simple bills that can be understood and debated by all.   Can congress codify access to abortion at the federal level?  Maybe, but it would have been significantly easier in 2009 when the party in favor had a super-majority.  Do you want your state to codify access and/or restrictions? The court has returned the decision to the people, who elect their representatives.  It will take work.   Are you afraid this lays the groundwork to overturn gay marriage? Well, there is plenty of time, AND plenty of support on both sides of the aisle, nationally, to write a concise bill that addresses that issue and only that issue.

Protesting feels good in the moment.  It can give you a sense of empowerment, being heard, or simply, knowing that there are other people who feel strongly about the issue.  Yet, work must be done.  Real work. Challenging work.  We must expect to have civil conversations if we want to solve it.

This is why I believe this has potential to benefit our country.  We need to find common ground about a very contentious issue.  We must talk to one another, without dissolving into screaming matches.  We will no longer allow the extremes of each side drown out our voices.  We will see that there are far more reasonable people in this country, than not.  We are going to expect our representative government to help us, by doing its damned job, and quit relying on courts to bail them out. Hard work, but so very worthwhile.

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