Stop the Bi-Annual Circus

Every two years (Every congressional session), the US Congress votes on a bill like this one to ban partial birth abortion. Every session the Democratic Senators say that this bill does not have an exception for the health of the mother, and ask that it be added. The Republicans say no, it passes, and the courts over-rule it because it does not have an exception for the health of the mother.

Every goddamn congressional session. If Republicans wanted to reduce the number of abortions in this country, at all, they would pass a version of this bill that has an exception for the health of the mother. What they want instead is a way to pin a pro-abortion vote on Democrats (as one was successfully pinned to Senator Kerry), and a reason to blame the courts (which as I’ve posted elsewhere, plays into a cultural narrative attacking lawyers and the legal system).

And they want to get to do this again and again.

Get it through your heads that Republican leaders do not care about reducing the number of abortions. Some of them may be idealists that approach a strategy that outlaws all abortions, but they are not content to accept any compromise even if the alternative is no limitations.

So when I make posts like the previous one that says abortion needs to be made into a democratic issue, I do not feel that I am being an ally of the Republicans, but instead a thorn in their manipulative politics. I am, however temporarily, being an ally to people who actually believe the cultural of life and would rather do something than nothing.

And as the current hearing on John Roberts shows, abortion issues have come to dominate how we look at Supreme Court Justices. Which is horrible, because there are so many more issues they should actually be focusing on. Ezra has written a lot about how Roberts is actually covertly a strong pro-business candidate. Emergent Chaos has a good rundown of the privacy and security issues our court has to face. And God knows the cases regarding executive privilege and power our court has to decide. All these issues are basically getting a free pass, as long as Specter and Schumer get to question Roberts enough about Roe vs. Wade.