Don’t Call Me Shirley

Almost 70 percent of anti-abortion forces will never become pregnant; it is not because they are infertile, celibate, or use contraception. It is because they are men. Three-fourths of anti-abortion leaders are male and unless their last names are names “Beatie,” they never will have a baby. Thomas Beatie was the transgender man who made headlines as the so-called "pregnant man."

What we witness with the GOP’s drive to curtail abortion and contraception is yellow bellied, lily–livered fear. As Samuel Johnson once said, “Men know that women are an overmatch for them . . . , If they did not think so, they never could be afraid of women knowing as much as themselves.” The essence of that statement applies to the conservative movement in this country in that it is led by men afraid of their shadows, but who will kill indiscriminately, torture without meaning and sell out to the lowest common denominator in order to cultivate testicles.

Anti-abortion forces are little more than faux fascists with a clever title in “pro-life” when even casual observation shows they only care about birth. The fact that 70 percent of abortion leaders are men reveals the pusillanimous nature of those that thunder loudly but hide beneath the covers when lightning strikes. In the old days, we called them sissies, but that is a name too regal for such whale feces.

Women with minds, strength and independence scare the hell out of the GOP. Their answer to being unable to match women sexually is to keep them barefoot and pregnant. Anyone, volunteering to be subservient to a man for that reason or because a 2,000-year-old books demands it without being under duress is monumentally stupid or is being held hostage in Alice’s Rabbit hole. I’ve thought about the arrogance and ignorance of allowing blind men to tell me the color of a tiger stripes by touch and dropped out of that class by the time I could talk.

Perhaps, it is time to play genie and allow them their wish by allowing any state to ban abortion. Of course, there would be stipulations. By law, any state opting out must pick up the cost of the birth from first breath to age 18. Also, any state not allowing birth control or contraception must also do the same. Federal funds will not be available for day care, lunch programs or other subsidies for forced births, but will be provided by the state.

In fact, since the political code “States Rights” is so popular in the South, it would be an opportune time to drop out of any Federal program, understanding that no Federal money would be available for similar state actions. States could drop out of Federal safety nets, but would be under the law to provide and implement programs of their own equal or better than government subsidies. This way states would be able to allow for spiritual healing; avoid insurance costs, teach creationism to add job market appeal and churn out babies to improve white fecundity.

As much as conservative Christian men try to tie these movements to God’s will, again, it is the gender leading the charge that makes it obvious the desire to eliminate female rights is a recognition of weakness that extends centuries into the past and is memorialized in the Bible, which the GOP uses to support their latest prejudices.

Of course, none of this will ever happen, but the idea is tempting. However, the thought that for action there is a reaction takes the edge from my fervor, I feel that these stupendously imbecilic proposals are little more than distractions to hide even more convoluted ideas from what used to be the Party of Lincoln.