Another Strong Case for the Separation of Church and State

This needs mention, even though it’s only Michigan politics…but our state, lovely of tree and dubious of brain, looks about to pass yet another abortion restriction.  (We already have a 24-hour waiting period, a ban on publically-funded entities offering referrals to abortion clinics, and free reign for medical providers who want to deny women “for moral reasons”.)  This time it’s a mandatory “interview” 24 hours before the procedure where the already-tormented woman gets to stand up and explain herself in front of a bunch of strangers. 

The reason I had to mention this is that it’s a wonderful example of the kind of ejaculate-in-the-face-of-logic approach that politicians seem to think they can get away with lately.  The conservative explanation for this latest restriction is that it will “prevent domestic abuse” — i.e., the purpose of the interview is to ensure that nobody’s forcing the poor woman to have an abortion.

Like, that’s a huge problem, is it?  How many cases of this have there been in our state’s recent history?  Two?  I’ve never even heard of one, and it’s not like I don’t follow the topic.  What we do have a huge problem with is abused or disadvantaged women being cut off from their legal right to have an abortion, using the same kind of sideline-blocking and intimidation tactics that used to be employed in keeping blacks from exercising their legal right to vote.  Now, the rape or incest victim, the drug addict, the prostitute, all have to face standing in a courtroom getting accused of gods-know-what by disapproving white people if they want to choose not to continue their pregnancies.  How compassionate.  And how very effective a way to prevent the women who have a legitimate need for abortions from going to get one. 

Come on.  If I’m a well-off white woman who just doesn’t feel like getting fat, what do I have to fear from this “interview”?  Compare that experience to what it would be like to allocute in this manner if you were a fourteen-year-old who’d been coerced into unsafe sex, a prostitute on the run from your pimp, a rape victim whose attacker was still at large (because pregnancy doesn’t wait for court cases, y’know), or a decent person with a debilitating heroin addiction.

And before that little nose wrinkles, Ms. Churchgoer, remember that phrase my grandmother so wisely relied on:  There but for the grace of God go I.  And you.

So, what good will this do for society?  Do we want more of these woman having babies, so that the state can support them and we can all deal with the mental cases or criminals they grow up into later?  Who exactly benefits here?  Jesus?  Does Jesus so love the crack babies that he wants us to force each other to have as many of them as possible, is that what we’re saying?

Ejaculate.  Logic.  Dripping off her glasses.  Seriously.

THIS, Mighty Proletary, is why the separation between Church and State is ABSOLUTELY VITAL to any sane governance whatsoever.  It’s not that religions are wrong to discourage abortion, and to scowl at any of their parishoners choose to go that route — religions are a voluntary association, and people who choose to be X religion choose to deal with that.  Religious organizations do have moral authority over their members, because it’s freely given. 

But people who are citizens didn’t sign up for that morality, and what’s more, any specific moral code is almost certainly not the best way to govern a huge diverse group of people while respecting their rights.  Even irrespective of civil rights, you can see clearly in the current example that trying to govern by religious morality is contributing to a completely backwards and utterly fux0rd method of dealing with a real social problem.  Because we aren’t separating church and state adequately with regards to the abortion issue, women who legitimately need an abortion aren’t getting them because of discouragement and inavailability, and society is bearing the insane burden of increasing numbers of severely damaged, disadvantaged, and unwanted children. 

So how is this helping anybody?  If you ask the religiosos, they’ll admit that everyone involved is still going to Hell anyway.