On DKos, cls180 calls for some clear thinking on choice:

My question is this...should the Democrats follow the anti-abortion rhetoric to its natural conclusion? There seems to be little effort from the Christian Right to actually prevent unwanted pregnancies. Their only solution to the problem of abortion is the criminalization of women. Should someone in the Democratic Party stand up and clearly state:

If Roe vs. Wade is overturned your mother, your daughter or your wife could be tried and imprisoned for having an abortion. This is wrong. We thing abortion should be safe, legal and rare. We think it will only be so when we get serious about providing the necessary tools to prevent unwanted pregnancies--comprehensive sex education and readily available birth control.

Why are we so reluctant to point out the truth of what happens if abortion is criminalized? If it's determined to be a crime, women WILL go to prison. The Christian Right never points out the obvious...why don't we?

In response to this, and some of the comments, I posted this:

Felony vs. Slavery

That would be the choice for women who get pregnant. The government would say, in effect, remain pregnant by law, or face murder charges. Not only that, don't smoke or drink or do any "irresponsible" things during this period of government-enforced servitude, or you will face more criminal charges. And you'd better give birth in a good hospital -- none of these midwives, now! -- and if you refuse a Caesarean, we'll lock you up for that as well!

As for the baby, well, just pray it gets adopted by someone rich, because all the government child-support programs are being gutted.

This abstinence-only policy the wingnuts advocate, however, is only as good as it is reliable. And abstinence has proven to be grossly unreliable as a policy to prevent teen pregnancy. How can an unreliable policy continue to be advocated? Because this is not about preventing teen pregnancy -- it is about returning women to their "proper" place: illiterate, barefoot and in the kitchen. The misogyny from the right on this issue is palpable. And when they call feminists "witches" as a matter of routine, it's not like they're trying to keep it a secret, either.

The RightThinkNiks hate the idea of empowered, independent women. To them, a woman's womb belongs to the man. And he is entitled to use the State to enforce his will upon her.

That is some scary shit. Even more scary is that people are lapping it up like sweet cream.

Harsh? The thing is that there doesn't seem to be any chance at discussing anything regarding this issue ... not with the RightThinkNiks. Reasoning with them doesn't seem to get anywhere. Their minds are made up: don't confuse them with facts. I don't know if getting in their faces and calling them on their hypocrisy is any more effective, but it sure reminds me why I believe in choice. And one can hope that maybe, just maybe, a little moral clarity from the pro-woman, pro-information side might help some fence-sitters see what is the real "pro-life" approach.

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