All Action No Conscience

Kansas House Speaker Ray Merrick, a Republican, watches the chamber's electronic tally board as it approves a sweeping anti-abortion bill Friday at the Statehouse in Topeka. At left is Majority Leader Jene Vickrey.
NO WIZARD

I am sad, mad, and frustrated almost beyond function today. This morning I read that Kansas is posed to enact legislation that recognizes life begins with fertilization and includes all manner of obstacle for a woman seeking an abortion, as well as those who would provide one.  I have to believe that we will get past this thing. Somehow, owing to science, reason, and economics, we will eventually realize the folly of these laws. Laws that are almost always written and forwarded by men. Laws that are almost always the brainchildren of women and men who believe they are acting to uphold God’s law. Laws that are promotoed by men and women who claim they are acting to recoginize the sanctity of life. Laws that are promoted to ensure that every “child” has the opportunity to come into this world and fully partake in the wonder of human life on this planet and in this country.

It must be easy to hold those beliefs. Especially when you have never, and never will, face the physical and emotional cost of carrying a pregnancy. Especially when you believe you’re perfect, or at least damn close in the eyes of your God. Especially when you can drive home in a car without fear of breakdown or concern for the price of gas. Especially when you know your child will be cared for every single day by you, a member of your household, or a member of your staff, in a safe and cozy home. Especially when you know your child will never know the serious side of want or need. Especially when you know your child will never lack for educational opportunity and support.

But, it must require an especially perverse way of thinking to enable one to hold those beliefs and ignore the consequences. To ignore the vast number of children who are seriously injured or die each year at the hands of an abusive parent. To ignore the vast number of children warehoused in foster homes. To ignore the vast number of children in this country who sleep homeless, who are all but discarded by a seriously damaged parent, who never know what it’s like not to be hungry. To propose ongoing cuts to social programs like Headstart, unemployment benefits, job training, schools, the arts, and all manner of social welfare programs.

I guess I’d like these supposedly well-meaning legislators to have a seat in a pediatrician’s office here, where I live. Or in any other poor county in this country. Or in the heart of any major city. Just let them drink in the wholesale neglect. Drink in the sight of a troubled and angry child—at the age of 2. Drink in the sight of incapable moms dragging their children around by the arms, yelling, pushing, hitting. Get the full impact of a child hydrated with high sugar drinks and nourished on a high carb, high fat diet.

After a week or so of that, perhaps he or she can remind me, once again, as to the gift of life in every circumstance. Remind me again of just how much your God cares for these little ones. Remind me again of what a great service it is you provide by eliminating the teaching of birth control in the schools and the elimination of ready access to abortion.

Remind me. Because, from where I live and from what I see, day in and day out,  I’ve sure as hell forgotten.