MANSFIELD: Misplaying the Race Card

 

Abortion = Racism

Allow me to state right from the beginning that I am philosophically opposed to abortion on the grounds that I would rather people conduct their lives, personal affairs and sexual encounters in a responsible, adult manner. This would lead to far fewer “accidental” pregnancies, which, of course, would result in far fewer abortions. Now, back to the real world.

Human beings make mistakes. Women that don’t want to have a child (or another one) at a certain point in their lives sometimes end up pregnant, and under the law they still — thank God — have the right to terminate the pregnancy. And rest assured, if men got pregnant, the whole abortion issue would be nonexistent. There would be no question in regards to a man’s right to do whatever he chooses with his own body.

This is primarily about men wanting to control the bodies of women, but since the so-called “Right to Life” movement has gotten so sophisticated over the years it now often pushes women to the podium to speak out against the still legal medical procedure. This is a means of hiding the hand of male domination in regards to this explosive issue.

At its core, this is Old Testament-type bullshit parading as a public policy concern.

The most recent line of attack has to do with African-Americans being manipulated by the religious right to oppose abortion. Of course blacks can have moral reservations over the procedure, but that’s a moral stance, not a civil rights issue.

Nevertheless a campaign has kicked off in the black community equating abortion with racism. Which begs the question, if that’s the case, what about when a white woman has an abortion, is that racism also? Of course not.

The fact is, the anti-abortion crowd has once again shown they have no shame (of course they counter that they are trying to save the lives of the unborn, so any tactics they use are legitimate, at least in their minds) when twisting the truth. They’ll support alleged pedophiles — as they did in Alabama when advocating for Roy Moore in his recent Senate bid — as long as the scumbag pledges allegiance to meddling in the lives of women who seek to control their own bodies.

But when blacks — often being directed by white handlers — try to make the case that abortion is racism, they, by falsely playing the race card, weaken it and render it useless when incidents of real racism occur. This is a disservice to the black community and robs the rest of us of our legitimacy.

The obvious flaw in the argument presented by those on the right is: they only care about making sure the baby is born, and after that the child can fend for itself. If the policies of the right make it increasingly difficult for less affluent women to keep their financial head above water, oh well, this is not their concern.

Indeed, multiple studies have reached the same conclusion: access to abortion eventually reduces the crime rate. The sad fact is, if a financially strapped mother or family — be they black or white — have more children than they can properly raise, there often are two outcomes: uneducated males that are at risk of running afoul of the law once they pass puberty, and undereducated females that oftentimes go on to have even more children that are dependent on the state for their survival.

Do the anti-abortion advocates counsel young men on their responsibility to not father children they have no means — and often no desire — of supporting? Not that I am aware of. If those on the right — black or white — really care to reduce abortions they need to advocate for laws and policies that strengthen families, not further financially marginalize those most at risk. Families that can afford more kids usually don’t abort them as often.

Shaming women and closing abortion clinics will not reduce the number of abortions; it will simply drive women into the dark and dingy back alleys where they have to put their lives at risk at the hands of unprofessional abortion providers, often operating in less than sanitary conditions. And of course, those who turn medical concerns (like the opioid crisis) into moral ones never take responsibility for the fallout from their wrongheadedness. If women die in back alley abortions the right will simply collectively shake its head and say “they just got what they deserve.”

From CoolCleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier’s From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author at http://NeighborhoodSolutionsInc.

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