Logic, and Pro-Life

Pro-Lifers claim that life begins at conception, and that a fetus in the womb is equivalent with an infant, a 35-year-old, or Ryan Seacrest. (They're right about Ryan Seacrest).

Yet, some of these Pro-Lifers do things with pictures of fetuses that... well... no one in their right mind would do with photos of dead human beings.

Like this: Fetus Trucks Circling Downtown Tampa

Can you imagine any sane person driving a truck plastered with graphic pictures of murdered adults? Of course not.

So why is covering a truck with photos of abortions okay???

I guess it's because... drumroll... Pro-Lifers don't really believe fetuses are people.

If Pro-Lifers really valued these fetuses as children, there's no way they would parade around their naked, bloody, dismembered corpses in public. That's not something we do with human beings. If you value a life, you don't treat that life like another murder image to plaster to the side of your truck. A death is a tragedy, not a marketing ploy.

If these fetuses really were human beings, you'd expect Pro-Lifers to treat them like human beings-- with love, a proper burial, mourning, respect. Instead, their "crime scene" photos are used to shock and disgust people. How does that convince anyone that their life is worth something?

But I guess logic isn't the strong suit of the Pro-Life community.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. If you want to end abortion, dead baby photos are not the way. A ban is not the way.

All the discussion of rape exemptions, sonograms and dead babies distracts from the real issue at hand. Abortion, most often, is a symptom of our larger societal ills: poor education, poverty, sub-standard health care. When a woman gets pregnant, it should be a joy... but unfortunately, these issues often make it into a tragedy. If we alleviate these issues, the amount of abortions in this country will drop significantly.

Provide comprehensive sex education, including birth control, to prevent teen mothers. Provide assistance for single parents and lower-income families. Improve the health care system so mothers-to-be don't have to worry about how to afford medical bills. Create incentives for minimum wage employers to provide paid maternity leave for their hourly workers. Create a program to help poor families afford babysitting costs. Provide maternity care for those who choose to go forward with giving a child up for adoption. Provide extra assistance for those who choose to raise a child with disabilities.

Give that pregnant woman all the support she needs for 9 months of pregnancy and for 5 years after that (the most crucial in a child's development), and you'll make the experience of bringing children into this world--and raising them--a less painful one. If you do that, there will be less reason to make the agonizing choice to abort a child.

But that takes a lot of work. A lot of money. And a lot of logic.

Driving trucks around with photos of dead babies is just a whole lot easier.