If Missouri Republicans believe in religious freedom, abortion rights are essential
Recently, Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin said the government should not provide Americans any assistance for child care because “people decided to have families and become parents. … That’s something they need to consider when they make that choice.”
Such beliefs are apparently shared by many Republican members of the Missouri General Assembly, who have been working to take away individuals’ rights to choose abortion and, in some cases, birth control. Yet these same politicians argue that having children is a private decision that families alone are responsible for.
How can families make responsible decisions when Republicans support laws that block economic and legal access to birth control and abortion, based only on these lawmakers’ own sectarian religious doctrine?
Missouri legislative proposals range from laws to criminally prosecute anyone trying to help someone obtain an abortion in another state to prohibiting abortion after a so-called “heartbeat” is detected at roughly six weeks. Apparently, that rhythmic cardiac activity in an embryo is now equated with being a fully-formed human.
Politicians are culpable for babies born through the force of the state into circumstances that increase their probability of experiencing abuse and neglect. Credible research has identified conditions associated with a greater probability that these children will be physically and/or sexually abused. They include domestic violence, isolation, economic distress, lack of support systems, past family abuse, substance abuse and unintended pregnancy.
This is not to mention the long-term psychological damage experienced by adults who were abused as children.
In the real world, only a tiny percentage of people put babies up for adoption in the U.S. Instead, most try to care for them, even in the worst of circumstances. This pattern has continued for decades despite wishful thinking that parents can just give children up for adoption.
The state gets no bigger than when it dictates the moral beliefs and most private reproductive decisions of citizens — practices common in authoritarian regimes.
To clarify, the belief that it is a scientific fact that a fetus is a human being is far from universal. Scientists have identified a developing embryo as a form of human life. Some debate whether a fertilized ovum the size of the period at the end of this sentence is a human being, while others recognize that the definition of a human being is embedded in different religious and moral belief systems that often presuppose a conscious subject with the ability to think, feel and suffer, which is the basis of our empathy for others. The physiological development for a thinking, feeling human being does not emerge in a fetus until at least 20 weeks (which is why current proposals for fetal pain laws begin at this time). Still others adhere to the Biblical doctrine that argues human beings exist only upon their first breath — when God breathed life into Adam, as stated in Genesis.
The First Amendment guarantees the rights of Americans to different religious and moral beliefs through the separation of church and state. The fact that Republicans have succeeded in imposing through law the denominational doctrine of certain Christian denominations as absolute truth is now and has always been a flagrant violation of religious liberty.
Given the culpability of politicians enacting laws that prevent Americans from making responsible personal choices about parenting, they become responsible for funding the social services needed to provide a safe and healthy life for these children, including nutrition, health care, child care, protection from domestic violence and services for parents with substance abuse problems.
A newborn baby deserves nothing less.