How Did I Miss This?

I was browsing my Facebook feed the other day, and noticed a post from one of my Facebook friends, mentioning that the House of Representatives had failed to  pass a bill that would prohibit abortions base on gender or race.  At first, I was appalled that this would not pass.  Why would our country's leaders, our elected representatives, choose to allow such a discriminatory action?  After all, what about the Equal Access Amendment which states that women and minorities should have equal access to opportunities offered to males and the racial majority?  Would anyone in our nations capital agree that a female child is less valuable than a male child?  Would they agree that a child of a certain race should be eliminated simply because of the race of one of their biological parents?  I decided that I had to see this for myself so that I could better understand why in the world this bill would not have passed. 

So I went to the website for the House of Representatives and reviewed the bill for myself.  If you are interested in researching this, you can find the Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglas Prenatal Non-discrimination Act of 2011 listed here. 

Now, I am not a lawyer and do not have any sort of legal training, but even I saw some flaws in the logic of this bill.  For example, how can you determine whether or not a fetus is being aborted based on race or gender?  It seems to be that one would have to ask the question, and a woman who has decided to have an abortion would simply have to lie about her true reasons. How could her intentions truly be understood by such a decidedly narrow question?  Answer yes and you go to jail; answer no and you don't go to jail. 

Additionally, if it truly is a woman's right to choose, then why do the reasons even matter?  The law clearly states that the biological father, not to mention the unborn child, or parents of a pregnant minor, do not have any rights in this matter; it is simply the woman's choice.  So if this is truly the case, then how can anyone else (the doctor, nurse, medical office, or family or friends) be held legally responsible for what motivates the woman to make the decision to abort?  It is her choice.  And this is where I find a flaw; the bill states that no matter the circumstances, the woman seeking the abortion cannot be held legally responsible.  Now I want to be clear; I am not saying that a woman who chooses to have an abortion should go to prison.  But, I am saying that if a woman chooses to have an abortion, and it is legally her choice, why should the medical staff, friends or family that support her be held legally responsible?  This seems ludicrous.

Another thing I want to make clear, I am pro-life and 100% against abortion.  I do not condemn anyone who has had an abortion, and I am not casting judgement on anyone with beliefs that differ with mine.  What I am saying is this: if a law is going to be presented before our nation's leaders to be reviewed and considered for putting into law, we need to think this through.

I don't understand the logic that states that abortions based on race or gender are infanticide, and yet we presume by our current upheld laws, that abortions that are not based on gender or race are not infanticide.  To me, abortion is taking a human life, whether it is based on the unborn child's gender or race, or the woman's choice.  If the pregnancy did not end, a human being would be born into the world, and that human being would not become human the moment it was born - it became human the moment it was conceived, and therefore should have the same rights as you and me - the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  I don't believe that anyone should be able to take away those rights.

This poses another question - when did we become a society that eliminates life based on race or gender?  As a nation, we have fought so hard to establish our identity as a nation that values human beings, regardless of race, gender, ethnic origin, religion, social or financial status, or even education or lack thereof.  We are supposed to be a nation that cares for others, that has deep convictions of right and wrong and we raise our voice in protest against injustice.  So, why is this even an issue?  Why are we still having the conversation about race and gender?  We are still fighting the same battles and I'm wondering if we are we making any progress.  I am on the fence on this issue.  I know someone who lived in Japan during her pregnancy.  When she asked the ultrasound technician if she was having a boy or a girl, they informed her that it was against the law to disclose this information, since many pregnancies are terminated if the child is female.  Is this where we are headed?  I hope that we, as a nation, can resolve this issue before it gets to this point.

Lastly, if my elected representatives are supposed to "represent" me, and be my voice when a bill is introduced, why is my voice not being heard?  Why does my government seem so disconnected from me and the things that matter to me?  It seems that there is a serious lack of communication between me and my representative.  After all, why didn't I hear about this?  Why was I not aware that this bill was presented, let alone dismissed without me even knowing that it existed? 

This one, I have to own.  If I want my voice to be heard, then I have to speak up.  I have to make my voice heard.  I have to tell my representative how to represent me.  I am ashamed to say, that up to this point, I didn't even know who my representative is.  So I looked him up here and then looked here to see how he voted.  I had no idea that I could find this information until today.  Now that I do, you can bet I will be making my voice heard, and I encourage you to do the same.  If we don't speak up, how can we be heard?