Appropriately, but perhaps surprisingly, many of those closest to the issue of abortion talk about it differently. I have found that rhetoric like Huckabee’s is completely unwelcome among many who are most committed to the pro-life cause. I have spoken with women who work at pro-life pregnancy clinics who condemn any language that shames women or increases the moral burden women feel. They work with pregnant women who are facing immense pressures and seemingly impossible situations every day, and approach the issue of abortion with compassion, not callousness. Some of the most committed pro-choice people I know hold their position in tension with taking the moral claims of pro-life Americans seriously, not by pretending those claims don’t exist. It is in the dehumanizing environment of our political system that humans become abstract enough to denigrate in order to advance some partisan purpose.
The truth is that while Republicans were right to claim that Sasse’s bill has no direct impact on the legality of abortion, support of this post-abortion bill requires the acknowledgement of realities that threaten uncomplicated support for the pro-choice position. If a failed abortion is one that results in a baby that is born alive, what does that say about the purpose and effect of a successful abortion? Regardless of concerns about the political motives driving the conversation, if Democrats can’t support a bill that penalizes denying proper care to a baby who survives an abortion because it might undermine other commitments, or offer a serious alternative proposal that protects those commitments, perhaps those commitments require further examination. If the penalties in Sasse’s bill for situations that Democrats say are either rare or non-existent are capable of impeding the entire medical field’s capacity to conduct abortions, what does that say about how thin the line is between proper care and negligence?
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