FRIDAY, JANUARY 19, 2024 - PROHIBITION AND ABORTION

 FRIDAY, JANUARY 19, 2024 - PROHIBITION AND MORE

So, in 1920, the United States embarked on a social problem - alcohol.  The politicians listened to the people and banned it. 

I’m sure there was a lot of public opinion.  I don’t know if my grandmother walked around the Iowa Capitol with a sign. “Stop Alcohol” - but she might have. (She was a loyal WCTU - Women’s Christian Temperance Union member.)

The anti-alcohol people won.  They closed the bars and stopped alcohol from being made and sold.  

The big public marches (if there were any) stopped.  There was victory.  There was peace.  The evil alcohol problem was solved.

And, thirteen years later, alcohol was back!!  Seemingly, the solution was worse than the problem.  Crime, speakeasies, moonshine, and bathtub gin created a new “normal” - a black market.  It was better to have legal alcohol - taxed and regulated  - with some checks and balances than some concoction developed in somebody's garage.  

(Aside - and how could we have professional football games on television without beer sponsors?)

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To me, it seems like some evils of society might not be corrected by enacting morality legislation.  Notably, recent legislation on abortion shows a very divided country.

As a society, the United States has a Surgeon General and a Food and Drug agency that attempts to watch what we put in our bodies.   Cigarettes and tobacco products are legal - but widely controlled.  The cigarette taxes are just over $1 a pack for federal taxes (plus state and local taxes).  

An unseen tax on tobacco comes from health insurance.  Non-smokers get better health insurance rates than smokers.

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So - a raging battle about morality still is going on - women’s reproduction rights (or abortion).  

I’m not a fan of abortion.  I hope couples plan for children through birth control or even condoms.  But sometimes, abortion becomes an essential part of a woman’s health.  Recently, there was a Texas pregnant woman who was carrying a child (embryo) that would survive only a few minutes at birth - that was denied an abolition in Texas - and went to a different state that allows abortions.  Other women are carrying stillborn fetuses that are ‘dead’ - but the women are not allowed to take the ‘dead’ child out of the womb.  

This is also a gender issue.  Women get pregnant - not men.  Should all women be on birth control - until they (and hopefully their partner) say “It is time to become a mother.” Sexual intercourse is generally an act of passion.  Men (and women) are so aroused that preventing an unplanned pregnancy is the last thing on their mind at the time of intimacy.

Richer women might opMore affluento to another state (or even to a different country) that allows for abortion if that is her decision .  A woman in poverty carrying a child that is dead in the womb can’t do that travel.  

Like alcohol in 1920, some states are trying to legislate morality.  Some legislators with very strong views areextremeimpose their views on others in terms of abortion.  (And, too frequently, it is old, white, male legislators).  

Maybe abortions should be available in every state - for $50,000.  (It would be like the tax on alcohol or tobacco.)  Abortion supporters can donate up to $3,000 on their tax returns ((as a deductible item).  So, those that can’t afford it have a fund that could be used.  

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I am a Christian - by my choice.  Yes, I was brought up in a Christian environment.  But, I also heard of God’s grace - the grace of a father loving his prodigal son, the grace of a rabbi saying let whoever is without sin throw the first stone at this woman who was caught in adultery, the grace of a foreigner (Samaritan) loving an injured person he didn’t even know by seeing that the man got the health care he needed.  The Christian community is divided on abortion as well.  “Thou shall not kill” is one of the ten commandments - and yet we have standing armies where the purpose is to kill.  

I heard love your neighbor - and even love your ENEMY.  Turn the other cheek, forgive (and you will be forgiven).  

To me, that is the message of “LOVE WINS.”  

Yes - abortion divides us, alcohol divides us, tobacco divides us - but the core is found in morality, and my morality is different than, say, a black Muslim immigrant from Nigeria.  

Let’s see what we can do - dialogue with others - let love win. 

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LOVE CAN WIN - BUT WE HAVE TO WORK ON IT

LOVE CAN TRANSFORM US - BUT WE HAVE TO WORK ON IT

KINDNESS CAN ALSO BE PART OF SOCIETY.  LET’S MAKE LAWS THAT REQUIRE US TO BE KIND!!!  (Ha)

Karen Anne White, ©, january 19, 2024