The Politics of Abortion
Steinfels, Peter
The New York Times does not brandish the word "outrageous" lightly. "Outrageous," however, was its summary characterization of the common policy, now emerging from the Supreme Court, Congress,...
...It is easy to emphasize the selfinterest that operated in the formulation of this policy...
...I would like to suggest, although with much less certainty than the Times has as its disposal, that the emergent policy is correct...
...Ultimately, the opponents of abortion will persuade the American public not by their propaganda or logical arguments but by their willingness to take up the burden of human tragedy in their own lives, offering personal or public assistance to those in need...
...Again, however, the argument cuts both ways...
...The Times suggests that until those opposed to abortion come to the aid of the poor, "the humanity of their movement will remain in doubt...
...Nonetheless, the outcome of these less-than-admirable deliberations and political cross-currents strikes me as reasonable...
...Under the new policy, at least some of the poor will still receive public support for abortions, when these fall within specific categories...
...In such conditions, it was wrong for government to "impose" a morality...
...Congress, on the other hand, cannot be faulted for responding to political pressures or reflecting sociological realities...
...That suggests a magnitude of problem not necessarily beyond private resources...
...Have those without moral objections to abortion seriously considered any other alternative for these women except public funding...
...Non-governmental support for those seeking abortions and unable to pay for them would respect the rights of the poor while refusing abortion acceptance as a social policy...
...Is it unequivocally demonstrated merely by a demand for public money...
...The essence of the case for liberalized abortion laws was that the moral status of the fetus was an unsettled matter in this society, and perhaps of such a nature that it could never be settled...
...One former government official estimated that, in the absence of Medicaid funds, over 40,000 women would have sought illegal abortions last year, causing over 250 deaths...
...Even many citizens who felt that reasoned examination did point, with a degree of clarity, to the conclusion that fetal life deserved protection at a point earlier than most abortions had to admit that our society was perhaps too profoundly divided on the question to legislate strict controls...
...For me, it is, as much as anything can be in this area, part of the solution...
...That was the position of numerous liberal Catholics...
...Confronted by those morally opposed to abortion, its defenders have frequently responded, "No one is asking you to have an abortion...
...Referring to teenage pregnancies and other high-risk births, the Times asks, "Will the anti-abortion forces that have carried the day now form as effective a political coalition to insure humane conditions of life for these children and their parents...
...The tension implied in such an arrangement is, for many, a problem...
...though the ability of the poor, when motivated, to scrape up money for one-time expenses can be exploited as an alibi, it is still a reality...
...that is what representative bodies do...
...Could women obtaining abortions be asked to pay a voluntary "tax" for those poorer...
...Such expenses can be far less debilitating than the increases in recurring expenses like utilities, rent, transportation, and food to which the poor are now regularly subjected...
...Have I not constructed another of those ingenious arguments that leaves the reality of human suffering untouched...
...Despite its resemblance to certain debater's gambits--if you're against abortion, how come you're not against killing kids in Vietnam...
...Yet the politics of abortion have always been intensely emotional and narrow, with neither philosophical issues nor the public interest receiving much careful attention...
...By first granting sweeping access to abortion under the rubric of "privacy" and then in fact limiting that access to those who can afford it, the Court appears to reflect, almost to the point of caricature, its own sociological makeup and its post-Nixon politics...
...If you're in favor of human rights for prisoners in Chile, how come you're not in favor of rights for unborn children in New York?--the question is a fair one...
...Outrageous," however, was its summary characterization of the common policy, now emerging from the Supreme Court, Congress, and the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, that abortions should not be paid for by public funds...
...Therl~ will remain a proportion who want abortions, have made their moral decision, and yet are now prevented from obtaining them by the suspension of public funds...
...The argument cuts both ways, however...
...What about the humanity of the movement supporting abortion...
...Could a private fund be raised...
...In my view, neither side of this debate, concentrated as they have been on the symbolic issue, has the needs of these women foremost in mind...
...That no one should also ask them to pay for abortions seems equally compelling...
...If the moral status of the fetus is too unsettled for purposes POLITICS OF ABORTION PETER STEINFEI~ of restricting abortion, then it is also "too unsettled for purposes of publicly paying for abortion---except where abortion can be shown to fall unambiguously into another category of supported procedures, such as established medical therapies...
...Could those earning their livelihood from abortion contribute services...
...Another proportion will manage to pay for abortions themselves...
...But what about poor women seeking abortions, some 250,000 to 300,000 of which have been funded by Medicaid yearly...
Vol. 104 • July 1977 • No. 15
