"Wouldn't it be Better if She'd Never Existed?"

The Shepherd University Republicans are finally up and going. It has been a long time (maybe never?) since Shepherd had a strong Republican organization on campus, but the current group seems to be on its way up.

One of the founders of this group, a lovely young woman, was some how engaged in a conversation with the president of the Shepherd University Liberal Women's Association (LWA) (yes the same group which I criticized for allowing their speaker to say "freedom doesn't matter without abortion" back in October) which led to her coming to speak at our meeting about her group, why she identifies herself as a liberal and how the republican party makes her feel "as a woman." She explained that she'd be bringing a friend for support and that she wouldn't take much time. However, upon arrival (with her 8-10 other liberal friends) we found out that she would not, indeed, limit herself to only discussing the organization; she was going to explain to us why any logical person must be pro-choice. To me, this was not surprising as I have said before that abortion is the only issue liberal women's groups advocate.

The LWA leader explained that there are three reasons for which she "must" support free choice. I shall quote her as accurately as possible (though it will look like I made her statements up as they are so shocking). Pretend she is speaking...

Three Reasons to Be Pro-Choice

1. "Abortion isn't just about women's rights, it's about children's rights, too." I worked with a 5 year old girl, whom we shall call Lexa. Lexa was abandoned by her mother at her grandmother's trailer when she was 3 or 4. She was forced to eat nothing but hot dogs, because her grandmother was poor and had little money. She also had to walk for nearly 1 mile to and from school through the holler and in front of other trailers, run down houses and filth. Isn't it sad that her mommy didn't have an abortion? Wouldn't Lexa have been better of to just not exist?
2. "There are no women making these decisions." I want to know that there are going to be women involved. The thought of men making these decisions for women through America is hard to accept--we need women to be involved in these decisions.
3. "Abortion needs to be legal because if its outlawed it's going to happen anyway." It would be better for an abortion to be committed in a clean, sterile, safe environment like a hospital than in a dark ally with a rusty coat hanger. The thought that a fellow woman would have to jam a rusted coat hanger into her vagina and possibly injure herself is a violation of basic human rights.

These are the worst arguments in favor of abortion that I have ever seen. Her presentation lasted a grand total of possibly 15 minutes. The response (and then the response to the response, and then the response to the response of the response and so on) lasted an hour and 20 minutes. My fellow republicans did a heck of a job responding to her. They (we) explained that she was absurd in her...(as I write this I'm listening to Sean Hannity interview Anne Coulter. She says that the only thing the democrats care about is abortion)...

I don't think I need to explain why these comments are so absurd... but I will address them briefly.

In regards to statement number 1 ("abortion is about children's rights") I have to say a few things. In our 'debate,' the question came up of where Lexa is now. LWA Rep. did not know. The child had moved away to get out of the holler. Next, somebody asked LWA if she had asked Lexa if she'd rather live or cease to exist--her answer? "No, of course not." At this point, I had to interject pointing out that, "That is the point of a pro-life stance. You, miss, do not ask--you just assume you know. You didn't ask Lexa if she'd like to be wiped of the planet. Doctors and mothers-to-be don't ask children if they'd like to live and be allowed to develop and be born, you just jab them in the head and kill them. You never ask." Her response? "Well, that goes to the question of what is a human. To me, life starts when the cord is cut. Until then, the fetus is part of the mother's body, not a separate entity which we might call human." Well there you have it. The little person is just a fetus, so it's ok to murder 'it.'

Questions two and three are beyond the realm of human logic. No women making these decisions? I guess there may have been if the National Organization of Women (NOW) hadn't so viciously opposed Harriet Miers. What about the 13 female senators in the United States Senate? I guess Olympia Snowe, the so called republican, doesn't count. What about Barbara Mikulski, Dianne Feinstein, Barbara Boxer, Patty Murray, Kay Bailey Hutchison, Mary Landrieu, Susan Collins, Blanche Lincoln, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Deborah Stabenow, Maria E. Cantwell, Lisa Murkowski, or Elizabeth Dole? How about the 46 female representatives in the House? Or our very own Shelly Moore-Capito? I guess they don't count. In regards to the coat hanger, "it's going to happen anyway" is one of those arguments that kills me. "Illegal drugs happen, so why not just legalize it." Because its harmful, immoral and decays the fiber of our society, that's why. We do not give legitimacy or legalality to something just because it would be more convenient. That's just sad.

The bottom line is that abortion is murder. That's a fact. It's not an opinion. It's not a political stance. It's a fact. People like the President of sues LWA are scary and dangerous to our society. We have to stand up to ignorant people like her.