A Christian Liberal is NOT an oxymoron.

Posted by XT on August 14th, 2009 in Progressive Faith

If you think you’ve seen bizarro behavior at townhall meetings this summer, wait until the debate turns in earnest to whether or not reproductive services will be covered. In response to a call for people of faith to be “abortion neutral,” Debra Haffner posted this. It’s worth a read…and a bit of thinking.

First of all, there’s no way to be “abortion neutral.” It’s simply a more palatable way to speak of capitulation. And Debra’s right that capitulating on abortion means that poor women will simply be left without the healthcare options available to more affluent families. It’s unacceptable.

But the alternative may be unacceptable, too. That alternative may be that any bill containing public funding for reproductive care gets scuttled completely. Is it possible to be “more unacceptable?”

If that is the alternative – and I believe it will eventually get to that – then poor women will be thrown under the bus again. They will, yet again, be asked to give up something they’ve never really had so that someone else who already has a bit more can add to that list. To put it Biblically, “For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.”

I’m not saying that blithely or without compassion. I think reproductive rights are worth fighting over. I’m just pretty sure that it will be a losing fight. At best, it can be a bargaining chip, and probably will be by both sides. One reason for that is the incredible power wielded by a small number of US Senators:

We’re talking, after all, about Max Baucus of Montana, Kent Conrad of North Dakota, Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, Susan Collins of Maine, Mike Enzi of Wyoming, and Chuck Grassley of Iowa. Collectively those six states contain about 2.74 percent of the population, less than New Jersey, or about one fifth the population of California.

Now look at the ratings for these Senators on abortion (from On the Issues):
Baucus – rated 100% by NARAL and 0% by NRLC
Conrad – rated 43% by NARAL and 25% by NRLC
Bingaman – rated 100% by NARAL and 0% by NRLC
Collins – rated 83% by NARAL and 0% by NRLC
Enzi – rated 0% by NARAL and 100% by NRLC
Grassley – rated 0% by NARAL and 100% by NRLC

This is the “Gang of Six” (everyone has to be a “Gang of…” nowadays) that will, supposedly, hold the swing votes on what bill passes the Senate. Two members have a perfect anti-abortion voting record. What chances are there that abortion will be covered? None.

Like I said, I think we should still fight for it. Abortion has to be covered when it is a medical necessity, at the very least. Reproductive education and birth control must be made available. If we are going to lose the abortion fight, and I think that’s what will happen, then we have to double down on winning everything that will help make abortion unnecessary. But this is simply another way in which being poor is a criminal offense.

And then we can set about getting the American public ready for the next round.

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