From the Other Side of the Edge….   
Abortion is a Choice…..Not a Budget Item
By Joe Facinoli 

By its nature, the complicated issue of Abortion, after all of the heated discussions, religious and righteous posturing, and hate-filled politics, really comes down to only two basic components. 

One is Personal,....the other Financial.  

The Personal element, really the only one, in many people’s hearts and minds, involves a woman’s choice, and her course of action, based on her thoughts at the time of “need”, her spirituality and religious beliefs or guidance, her humanity, and of course her individual situation, her age, as well as her support structure. 

A very serious, very private, personal and individual decision, …indeed. 

The Financial part of the issue, really only involves one thing:     Who pays for it?

Fortunately or unfortunately, this question has now become fully accepted as being very public.   

But in reality, and certainly Constitutionally, and as seen through the prism of common sense, and what’s right for all citizens (and taxpayers) who have been drawn into this debate, ….these two elements should NEVER meet.  

I believe that a woman, privately and individually, has the right to make her own choice.  

But I do NOT believe, firmly and unequivocally, that she has the right to have me, or anyone else, pick up the tab for it.  

As with other welfare payments, handouts, and entitlements, all masquerading as “do gooder” social programs, shoved down our throats (by way of our wallets) by those who continually tell us that they “know best”, ……there are always exceptions. 

Rape, incest, as well as medical issues and complications, may dictate the necessity. 

But abortion is not birth control !!!

It should not be used, in one’s humble opinion, simply because the “timing is just not right to have a baby right now”, or, “we can’t afford it”, or “she would be a terrible mother”, or other reasons of inconvenience, and self-serving nonsense. 

Plan better.   Plan ahead, just a little, for that matter.   Be responsible, both before and after doing the deed.   Think about, and own up to the consequences, at all times. 

But if that’s your life choice, and life style, and if that’s your way of “taking care of business”, then I will not be the one to stop you.   Whether I agree or disagree with your decisions, ….they are yours to live with.  

But I will be the one who fights you, tooth and nail and forever, if you put your hand out, unapologetically and indignantly, as if it is foregone and assumed, demanding that someone else’s tax money be used for YOUR personal, private, and individual choices.  

Nope, ….simply not right.  

Forgetting about the implied humanity, and the birth or death of a child, and when that child’s life may actually begin (or end), this would be like assuming your neighbor should buy you a new house, just because you’re ready for it, or feel like it.    Or, that they should go buy you a new car, digging into their own pockets for you, for money they will never see again, and not ever getting anything in return for it, just because you’re tired of riding the bus.  

Do you think that would ever happen??     Should be the same “snowball” here, with the same chance.  

You made choices.   If you don’t like the situation, then change it.   Don’t ask others to pay for the choices you don’t like so much now, nor want to live up to.  

Especially don’t ask them to pay for things with money they don’t really have to spare, for things they will never receive any benefit from.    And likely, don’t even understand, nor believe in.  

It’s just not right. 

Why should there ever be a demand, that public funds be used, for something that is the most individual, and the most personal, of all the decisions or events that human beings will ever make, or experience?   

This is between two people, and two people only.   Or three, depending on whose defining viability, or counting weeks in a trimester.    But it does NOT involve anyone else.    

They made a choice, and a life decision, they pay for it.   If they can’t, then there are options.   Adoption, family support, private donations, …among them.   

I know, sounds crazy, in this handout, me first, “where’s my free stuff”?, entitled world of today.   But it’s called Responsibility.     And, being Accountable for one’s actions.  

There are, or at least used to be, other places to go for help, both before, and after.  

Planned Parenthood did good work, at one time, little question.   But they seem to have forgotten their core reason for being.   Their name says “planned” parenthood, as in:   some forethought, before the foreplay.  

But mostly now, rightly or wrongly, they are seen as just abortion facilitators, which would be after the fact, rather than any real counseling or “planning”, before the problem is permanent and unchangeable. 

Either way, it should be privately funded.   And if it can’t come up with enough donations (likely, given the majority of their clientele), then get more doctors to volunteer, or be otherwise creative.   But, whatever the circumstances, it has NO business, nor place, at the public trough.  

For the record, the Constitution, through implication in Amendments 9 and 14, does guarantee a woman’s right to privacy, regarding her choice, or not, to have an abortion.  

Her right to privacy, …yes, but not any kind of right to have it paid for, by the public’s general funds.   Nowhere in there.    Not even in Roe v. Wade.   Really. 

Roe v. Wade re-affirms a woman’s rights in this, and attempts to define the time and date of the viability of a fetus (when that unborn “mass” could live and breathe outside the womb), but it still leaves a few other questions undecided, or vaguely answered.  

How are local and state laws dealt with, and how are they allowed to co-exist with federal law, when it is not completely clear?    How will the courts determine jurisdiction?    How are religious beliefs and moral views (of the individual, not the general public), incorporated?  

Those, and many others, have not been fully decided, nor adjudicated.   

But the one thing that is clear, is that nowhere in any of these documents, legislation, and/or legal precedents, is there any mention of public funding for abortions, nor anyone’s right to it.  

Abortion, and the vital, life altering decisions associated with it, ALWAYS involve another human being.   One without a voice.   And whether that other “person” will be allowed to either start their life, or to continue it, or neither, depending on whose book, or ruling you’re reading.  

 (Joe can be reached at:   joefacinoli@gmail.com )
Intelligent Response Encouraged !!

© Copyright 2013, Joe Facinoli