Bernie Rabik: Overturning of Roe is not the only piece of the pie to be served
Abortion is always going to be personal for me, the topic always is even when approached from different angles.
One in four women will have an abortion, which includes treatments for ectopic pregnancies, tubal pregnancies and other forms of “spontaneous” abortion or miscarriage. And whether or not they personally experience one, everyone knows someone impacted by abortion. It is this intimacy that has kindled the fire of many in the pro-life movement, including myself.
Things that cause abortions: lack of comprehensive sex education, inaccessible health care, violence against women, religious shame and exclusion, familial rejection or coercion, and workplace inequalities including but not limited to barriers for advancement, disparities in pay, and lack of paid parental leave or child care.
Abortion having been made illegal before addressing these injustices is going to kill women, because women will continue to have abortions secretively and unsafely.
In a post-COVID-19 society when young people are already experiencing a catastrophic mental health crisis, making abortion illegal is going to kill women in more ways than one; for example, back-alley abortions and their risk factors.
The usual ethical discussion focuses on the morality of the abortion act itself, the immediate consequences, the circumstances, and the set of precedents. But if we have this conversation, we are starting in the wrong place. The nuance that I am arguing for is not about the morality, it is about the effectiveness of this particular tactic of assuaging it: making abortion illegal. This particular tactic is not going to work
We can recognize that abortion being legal represents a certain form of public complicity in permitting a grievous sin to happen. But are we actually permitting it any less without changing the causes of abortion? To achieve the desired society in which abortion is no longer permitted we have to create a reality where abortion is no longer caused. We are complicit in those systems, too.
We need mandatory and comprehensive sexual education and accessible health care. We need to address income inequality and mandate paid leave. We need to demolish the prison industrial complex and stop criminalizing the poor and marginalized. We need robust community-based postnatal care and to crack down on violence against women. We need to revolutionize the way churches approach sexuality, so that we might embrace and support sexually active women in crisis, regardless of their marital status.
I am still anti-abortion. And yet, it is amazing how quickly the solidarity comes with my pro-abortion loved ones the moment I articulate these nuanced beliefs: I am anti-abortion, and I do not want to be illegal. Since Roe v. Wade has indeed been overturned, this solidarity will be crucial to providing a safe haven for at-risk women.
We must all keep our eyes on the true culprits. We must shout about the real causes of abortion, together.
Stay tuned for other pieces of the pie to be served.
Bernard Rabik, a Hopewell Township attorney, is a columnist for The Times.
This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Rabik: Overturning of Roe is not the only piece of the pie to be served
