Equal Opportunity for Life?

Last week three bills related to the practice of abortion in Florida were passed by the House Health and Human Services Access Subcommittee.  They are not the law, not yet.  But they are on the way.  In one way or another each of these bills further restricts abortion here in the Sunshine State.  HB 839 would ban abortions after the fetus is 20 weeks old based on the assumption that at that age a fetus can experience pain.  HB 277 would institute a 24-hour waiting period, expand prohibitions against certain types of abortion and require all doctors performing abortions to take a three-hour ethics course every year.  HB 1327 would ban selective abortions, those based on gender or race.

I am not in favor of unrestricted access to abortion.  I believe that there are certain limits that the state can rightfully legislate and enforce.  There are folks who say any limitations are wrong because they abridge a woman's right to make choices which impact her own health.  But we have many laws and regulations that already do that (for men and women) in other areas of medicine.  Abortion can't be totally exempt!

But that said, these particular regulations appear to be part of a growing attempt to make the definition of a legal abortion increasingly narrow.  HB 839, for instance, is based on scientific assumptions that are not universally supported.  While some researchers agree that pain can be experienced between weeks 20 and 24, others say it that doesn't happen until week 29. 

HB277, with its required ethics course, seems to ignore the fact that almost all of medicine has enormous ethical implications.  Why just single out doctors who perform abortions? 

And HB 1327, while seemingly noble, feels slippery at best.  It has been named the Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglas Prenatal Nondiscrimination and Equal Opportunity for Life Act.  Great title--two great Americans!  But wouldn't it be better attached to a bill correcting some of the social and economic inequities that mar certain aspects of American life?  Often the most vocal opponents of abortion fail to recognize that the abortion debate isn't just about prenatal realities, but post-natal realities as well.  It's not just about the rights of the so-called unborn, but also the rights of such children when they are unwanted and yet still brought into the world.  It is about the rights of women who struggle to live in the here and now. Don't misunderstand, I am not suggesting that it is OK to make decisions to abort or not based on race or gender. But race and gender are real issues in this life.  Why not work to provide quality healthcare, sound nutrition, affordable housing and meanigful education for those already in our midst?  Now that would provide a genuinely Equal Opportunity for Life!