Choices

My good friend James West writes some pretty good thinking over at The Wild West Republican Blog, and he's got some real good words about abortion over there right now.

I've got some things to add to what he said, from my perspective.

First, let's agree I accept the usual caveats regarding rape, incest, and the critical health of the mother.

Having said that, I'm essentially pro-life when it comes to my personal beliefs.

But I also believe the government should stay out of our personal lives, which means I can also support the pro-choice position.

Just not as it currently exists.

See, my problem is not with women having the opportunity to choose, rather it's with women having the only vote in the matter.

Because the last I checked, it took two people to make a baby, a male and a female.

Even in same sex marriages, there's a male involved somehow in the production of offspring.

In absolutely every pregnancy, there is a male party involved, who by my way of thinking, should have some rights as well.

In fact, the male should have exactly the same amount of decision influence as the female.

As long as he's involved in the mandatory participation in the support of the mother and child.

I see it this way:

Both parents should have an equal say from the moment of conception, as long as both parents have a risk.

If a woman wants to have the child, and the man does as well, no problem.

If a woman doesn't want to have the child, and the man also does not, no problem.

Both of those are agreed decisions, personal decisions by the involved people, and need no government intrusion.

If the woman does not want the child, but the man does, the man should have the right to pay for the maternity care and then assume full responsibility for the child and its expenses from birth on, with no parental rights or visitation by the woman, on a non-rescindable basis.

If the woman wants the child, and the man does not, then the woman should assume all responsibility and custody of the child and all of its expenses from birth on, with no parental rights or visitation from the man, on a non-rescindable basis.

In both cases, no parental rights or visitation also means no additional legal or financial obligations.

The fact of the matter is, I don't want the government messing around in my personal life.

Just as they shouldn't be messing around in the personal lives of anybody else.

I don't care what two gays do in their bedroom because I don't think anyone should oversee what I do in mine.

I don't care what two parents do with regard to having a child, because I don't want the government involved in choices like that for me.

But, if the government must be involved, then everybody should have an equal say, with their vote holding equal weight.

Equal rights for all.

Otherwise, the government is fostering class differentials among its citizens, something clearly prohibited by the Constitution.

Of course, in the abstract, you have to wonder how many unborn children are really pro-choice.......

“Equal rights for all, special privileges for none” ---- Thomas Jefferson

“The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal.” ---- Aristotle