Who's really responsible?

The Meet the Press discussion, with Falwell, Land, Wallis, and Sharpton is still going over in my head. There was one particular discussion about abortion that caught my attention. I was taken back by another discussion between Land and Russert:

MR. RUSSERT: If abortion is outlawed in the state and abortions are performed by a doctor in that state, who's prosecuted? The doctor?

DR. LAND: The doctor.

MR. RUSSERT: The mother?

DR. LAND: I see mothers as victims. I've worked in crisis pregnancy centers. I've counseled women who'd had post-abortion traumatic stress syndrome. When an abortion takes place, there are at least two victims, the mother and the unborn child. I would prosecute the doctors. And we're ready to battle that out in every state and let the people's elected representatives make those decisions, not people in black robes.

To me, as I try and get my head around the issues, I wonder that if its the mother who is going to get an abortion, wouldn't it make sense to the person advocating against abortion that she should be prosecuted too? The doctor is in a Kevorkian-like position, assisting in the murder. Surely the doctor should be prosecuted but what of the mother? Given how many conservatives favor the death penalty (I for one, do not), it doesn't seem like a far stretch then to wonder why the political conservatives haven't argued for sending mothers who get an abortion to the gas chamber? Maybe that wouldn't be as strong a selling point in the political arena, eh?

Honestly, I think this is what many feminists are afraid of: If we overturn Roe v. Wade, then women who get abortions may get prosecuted (or sent to the gas chamber) if it is discovered that by the authorities that they had one. And now with technology capable of maintaining all sorts of data, it probably should scare the crap of out advocates of abortion.

To me, as I try and find a consistency in the abortion debate, I find myself looking to the Catholic Church (gasp! I know.. I don't do this very often) and look at their position on pro-life. For many within the Catholic Church, the issue of life is of the utmost importance. Whether we're talking about abortions, the death penalty, euthenasia.. whatever it is, if we value life then we should work towards its betterment in all the arenas surrounding those who have abortions, murdering others, or end of life issues. What sort of environments contribute to these situations and how ought we to address them so that in the end, there are less murders, less abortions, and less reasons to "stop feeding dad so he can die peacefully."

Arguments aside, addressing the problems of abortion is a challenging issue. I think Wallis had something interesting to say when he said,

REV. WALLIS: Well, this is a conversation that we're having all across the country now. And it's again about symbols more than--I want solutions here. Pro-life and pro-choice people could unite together around working on teenage pregnancy, adoption reform, supporting low-income women. When you support them economically, the abortion rate falls. The abortion rate is way too high in America.

I remember watching a special on television a few weeks ago when a feminist theologian (can't remember her name at the moment) was explaining that conservative politicians aren't so much pro-life as they are pro-birth. If they were pro-life, they'd be concerned about issues surrounding the life of the birthed child: poverty, drug abuse, and child abuse. To her, the arguments about abortion are more about pro-birth and should be stated as such.

I would like to believe that the Republican and Democratic parties actually want to address this issue in a serious way to minimize abortions and actually do more work than talk. I'd like to think they'd work to create a support network that address all the issues of abortion. If they are serious, then I'd be in favor of advocating an alliance between both Republicans and Democrats to create and foster a program that speaks to all the challenges of unwanted pregnancies: poverty, child neglect, adoption reform, etc. But then, I wonder: is this just talk or is anyone really serious about addressing this issue outside of political platforms on early Sunday morning news talk shows?