Suck it, anti-choice movement

When the Canadian Centre for Bioethical Reform descended on my town, I was appalled and dismayed. This was no doubt what they were after, emotionally-speaking. I’m pretty sure their plan backfired, though.

If you haven’t heard of the CCBR, let me tell you a little bit about their shenanigans. They like to adorn things with photos of bloody fetuses the way people like to decorate for a major holiday. They dropped a gigantic banner from a freeway overpass during the middle of rush hour, heedless of traffic jams and the potential to cause accidents. Then they will sneak past everyone’s home at roughly the time you may be picking up your kids from school to plaster your doors with graphic imagery with no regard for who may see it.

Let me tell you, most awkward conversation I ever had with my four year old son in my entire life. Nope, it wasn’t about the ethics and why are there such things as abortions, it was this: “Mommy, why are these people being mean and trying to scare us with blood and dead babies?”

Out of the mouths of babes. He thinks you guys are being a bunch of bullies, by the way.

Back then, I talked myself out of doing my due diligence as an angry Canadian and engaging in some furious letter-writing. But I’m done with that. The CCBR’s in the news again, and the violent and vocal are coming out of the woodwork. You know what? Being polite and staying out of things does nothing to protect the rights of those against people who would gleefully take it away. Yes, you heard right…. I said gleefully.

Who am I? I’m pro-life* (*Some exceptions and conditions may apply). I prefer to refer to the extremists as anti-choice. I’m fucking Switzerland right here, babes, the fence-sitting demographic that they should be pursuing to swing to their side. I have an unusually strong sense of justice and ethical right, but I live in a world where I see shades of grey and vast socio- and economic problems that have to be considered. Yeah, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that this is a complex problem, and it doesn’t take a genius to realize that when you’re being a colossal ass-hat, you’re alienating your prospective converts in favour of stroking your already-acquired fanbase.

Dear anti-choicers, we can see where your priorities are. We can  also see how you delight in the chaos you create. You have no regard for the women you hurt or the children who may suffer a system that isn’t nearly as compassionate to the living as it is to the unborn.

Would you be the least bit sorry if your shock and awe over freeways causes an accident and someone dies? Do you feel sorry about bullying and scaring children and young desperate mothers instead of trying to solve their problems?

There are people who aren’t unborn children involved, people who are indisputably living breathing feeling thinking human beings. If you indulge in behaviour that could cause harm to one of these people, you are a cruel prick, and you’re playing a dangerous game. It’s a very, very small step from deliberately causing chaos that could possibly harm to deliberate intent to cause physical harm.

As the Kindergarten teacher would say, if you’re in a bad situation, learn to use your words, and maybe go have a sit down in turtle time to see if you can’t stick your head in your shell and come up with a better solution instead of being a feces-flinging hu-monkey.

Okay, she might leave off the feces-flinging part.

Personally, I would love to see 98% of all abortion eliminated right from the get-go as unnecessary. Why not 100%? If you want to argue with me that the (potential) right to life for a fetus triumphs over the risk of death for the woman in those rare medical necessity cases, you’re going to get a boot to the head. Sorry, that’s just the way it is.

Abortions for some, miniature flags for others. Moving right along…

All the pieces necessary to solve the puzzle are within our grasp already! I’m (pretty) sure that most sane people would agree that it is better to prevent an unwanted conception than to terminate a birth. We have birth control, there’s the potential ease of access to better information, and a growing horde of people who want to adopt. But let’s face it, the systems and delivery methods suck, and there is a huge poverty problem which causes denial of access to crucial services.

Let’s try to be a little non-zero sum, here. That means win-win. The uniqueness that makes every life worth preserving also comes with a side order of compassion and intelligence. You want to earn some swing votes? Build a better system, and I’ll gladly enter this utopia with you.

In the meantime, take your hate propaganda and get off my lawn.