Aborting Abortion?

There’s been a lot of talk about defunding Planned Parenthood lately. It seems like there always is, but it’s certainly in the forefront of public discussion at the moment. Apparently, some enterprising self-appointed vigilantes went undercover to record (and, subsequently, strategically edit) incriminating footage of Planned Parenthood. Regardless of the content of evidence and whether or not it’s authentic, here’s something they (and you) should consider: If you want to prevent people from having abortions, shutting down Planned Parenthood is a completely backwards and self-defeating way to go about it.

The vast majority of what Planned Parenthood does is provide birth control and other preventative measures to cut down on unwanted pregnancies (and thus cut down on abortions). For crying out loud, that’s what the words “planned parenthood” mean. If you eliminate the resources provided by Planned Parenthood from people with limited means, unwanted pregnancies will rise and, proportionally, the number of abortions will skyrocket (as will the number of dangerous unlicensed “back-alley” abortions). To look at the even bigger picture, an increase in unwanted pregnancies means poverty will also go up, as will welfare, crime, unemployment, child abuse/neglect, and countless other social ills. You want that?

Another thing that perplexes me about such vocal opponents of abortion is how almost none of them back their beliefs up with action. The next time somebody spouts off about how evil abortion is and how it must be stopped at all costs, ask them how many children they’ve adopted (or even fostered). Ask them how much time they’ve spent volunteering at crisis pregnancy centers or shelters for unwed mothers (There’s a list of them state-to-state here). Ask them what they’ve done to help victims of rape or incest. Ask them what they’re doing to educate people (especially teenagers) about birth control. From my experience, most of them seem to find it perfectly adequate to say “I pray for them.” Gee, thanks. How very noble and self-sacrificing of you. Pray in one hand and piss in the other and see which fills up faster.

If you’d rather curse the dark than light a candle, that’s your prerogative. If you wanna complain about pollution without even bothering to pick up the litter in your own neighborhood, you have that right. However, you don’t get to act all righteous and superior when all you’re doing is bitching. You also don’t get to say you care about the unborn or that you care about single mothers or that you care about orphaned children because you don’t. You just hate abortion. Hate never helps.