The trigger for my decision (which is probably a year overdue) to stop posting content to Facebook was the intemperate reaction of several people to my posting warning that I tend to take a hard line on people talking nonsense about the issue of abortion. I received two warnings essentially saying “be careful what you write”, and one comment essentially telling me that I needed to talk to somebody who actually had an abortion.
Now…abortion is what in the UK they term a “third rail issue”. That is a UK phrase referring to a topic that no political candidate or politician ever wants to discuss, for the obvious reason that no matter what you say, some group of people will be pissed off and angered.
Abortion, by the way, is basically a non-issue in the UK at the present time. It was accepted by the majority many moons ago that it is a private matter between a pregnant woman and her medical professionals. This is in contrast to Ireland, where until recently abortion was totally illegal. We watched in the UK for decades as well-connected or wealthy women or daughters of the well-to-do would quietly slip out of Ireland to other countries for a “long weekend” or a “minor medical procedure”.
As is usual, when you try to ban something for which a demand will always exist, whatever it is you try to ban still continues to exist, it just goes under the radar, and public hypocrisy abounds.
As per the comment that I needed to talk to somebody who has had an abortion…I have met one woman in the UK who had an abortion many years ago. Additionally, I have received one private message from a lady friend in the UK in the last 24 hours who did undergo an abortion many years ago. As one might expect, it was a matter of considerable angst for her.
One accusation commonly hurled at people who are perceived to be “pro-abortion” (that phrase, by the way, is a classic strawman fallacy, and deserves nothing but contempt as a response) is that they see abortion as like a teeth-cleaning, some trivial event that requires no thought. “Shit, I’m pregnant again! Better go to Acme Abort this weekend AGAIN”. That sort of casualness. In reality, anybody with life experience knows that is not so. I know this is not so, even though I am not a woman. So when I get comments implying that I lack the experience to comment, I’m sorry…that is a rhetorical strawman, an attempt to shut me down. No, not playing.
The attempts to ban abortion in the USA are doomed to failure, and clearly represent an impertinent intrusion on the rights of women to control their life decisions. As a libertarian, I find that sort of governmental intrusion to be flat-out wrong. I will work against it at any chance I get.
If I am told that my worldview makes me “pro-abortion”, or in favour of murder, I will dismiss those strawmen in short order. Like many statements made by people who regard abortion as a form of murder, those are not good-faith arguments. They are merely attempts to shut down debate in favor of emotional and accusatory statements.
