What Sort of Choice Are We Talking About?

Posted By MJ

The Terry Schiavo matter is a disappointing display of governmental control. The entire subject is of such a personal nature involving a grieving family that I almost feel judgmental writing about it. Of course, as we are reminded seemingly by the hour, this debate, this silly overblown debate, is about life, death and choices.

Pro-life, Pro-choice, whatever you call yourself it’s all so old. The labels themselves are as inaccurate as those who claim to abide by them. Once again, however, the nation gapes at Florida with political eyes to see how the first campaign issue since the November presidential election will unfold. Yes, that’s right, life and death was a campaign issue- largely a Neocon debate engulfed by Democrats. You see, just because the campaigns end, the issues don’t. When candidates depend on such private matters as abortion and gay marriage to dominate the political scene, and when they enlarge the debate to a national crisis stage like Bush did in 2004, these issues just don’t go away as easily as many think. These are the very issues Bush campaigned on, this is the state of the union, and the monster that has been created and it will get worse.

Is Schiavo really about a choice? Is this matter really about life and death? Yes, it is about choice, but not the public’s choice. And it’s certainly not about the public’s death. I don’t know how much more private a matter such as this could be. Why won’t people just leave it at that?

Protestors, or supporters, I’m really not sure how to refer to either side, pray for the life of Schiavo and demand for the repentance of those who either refuse to pick a side or those who don’t believe the same as they do. Why are people so worried about everyone else’s sin?

I had a Republican friend tell me that this debate is really about abortion and Roe v. Wade and everything to do with life and death decisions. From a distance, the debate appears that way, but the Schiavo case is much deeper. There is no doubt, however, that the issue eventually boils down to abortion rights. And since the Neocons have made abortion such a crisis and of such religious importance, and because I don’t want to talk about Schiavo, I think we all must stop and ask: What sort of choice are we talking about? And since this debate will not go away, I think it’s time Democrats reconsider the abortion issue and for Republicans to stop trying to be so righteous.

Abortion is not a joyful choice. I don’t even think abortion is a woman’s issue nor do I believe that abortion is merely only a woman’s choice. The overall result of abortion is the ceasing of human life. I do not know of any woman who would joyfully make that decision and then brag about her right to do so. Women do not leave abortion clinics celebrating their right to abortion like they left the voting booth in 1920 when voting for the first time.

There must be an understanding that abortion is not a Liberal issue involving women being treated equally. It’s about tough personal decisions brought about by many different circumstances, all of which are about life.

Yet, life does not stop at birth. So the Pro-life people are just as clouded in their thinking as the people they detest.

Amazingly, people who declare that being Pro-life is about saving lives are eerily the same ones who want welfare dismantled, who want Social Security phased-out, who call any and all social programs communism, who hate taxes and demand that they should not be responsible for hand-me-downs to people that they think choose to be poor. If this debate is about life then shouldn’t we really talk about life, including birth and upbringing? How can people claim that babies should be born no matter the circumstance, counting babies being born into poverty, drug addiction and a vicious cycle, be so against the social aspects of life after that baby is born?

I don’t think I’ll ever understand either side.

This debate is not about life and death. It’s about labels, and labels are a very lazy way to do politics. Because of our laziness, we have created a nation of hysteria. Not to mention of hypocrites as well.