Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, a far right Republican, made an extremely offensive racial argument when discussing abortion rights on a Christian website. Ignoring completely the Roe V Wade decision (which has been the law of the land since 1973), Santorum attempted to argue for the person-hood of a fetus. He then attacked the president, whose stated position on the matter is the same as the public proclamations made during the conformation hearings of both Sam Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts: Roe is "settled law."
And this is where Santorum throws down the race card. Rejecting the law and its definitions outright, Santorum makes the racial argument that, as an African-American, President Obama must be opposed abortion. “And Barack Obama says no. Well, if that human life is not a person, then I find it almost remarkable for a black man to say ‘now we are going to decide who are people and who are not people.’”
"Remarkable for a black man"? Why is it remarkable? Most blacks vote Democrat, and the party has been pro choice as long as there has been a choice. What Santorum is doing here is attempting (like many extremists in the anti-choice movement) to equate abortion to slavery. This, of course, would make pro-lifers the equivalent of abolitionists. The problem with that analogy is that the experience of a human being who spends his or her entire life in bondage is not comparable to that of a microscopic fetus who spends three months inside of a woman. I don't really feel that needs further explanation, as it seems rather obvious. I would imagine that to compare the experience of being human chattel to that of being a fetus would be quite offensive to those who either experienced it, or to their descendants.
It's also offensive because it makes the racist assumption that all blacks think alike - that they are some monolithic group incapable of having individual opinions. Would Santorum make a statement like that about whites? "I find it remarkable for a white man to say..." I doubt he would. Nor would he do that to Jews, or Asians, or nearly anyone else. Yet, he feels perfectly comfortable saddling an entire race of people with his opinion and then insinuating that they are somehow less black for disagreeing with him. When did Rick Santorum become emperor of the black community?
Sorry, folks, abortion is not slavery. It is a legal medical procedure. Terminating a pregnancy is not, in any way, comparable to living your entire life as property of another. It just isn't. Rick Santorum owes President Obama and the entire African-American population an apology for his insulting insinuation and racist presumptions.
6 comments:
It's shocking what the right can get away with. Dr. Laura calls a black female caller the "N-word" 11 times and she gets a new contract on satellite radio and then whines about being censored. Now this. Maybe Santorum is done politically (he should be), but his career as a talk radio or Fox News host just got the jolt it was needing.
Splash writes, "Why is it remarkable? Most blacks vote Democrat, and the party has been pro choice as long as there has been a choice."
Hmmm... so most blacks (around 90% actually) vote Democrat.
Further, "It's also offensive because it makes the racist assumption that all blacks think alike - that they are some monolithic group incapable of having individual opinions."
So you make the statement, Dave, that most blacks vote Democrat and thereby assumably have no great exception to the party's stance on abortion.
Santorum draws your ire because he also acknowledges those very same facts that most black people seemingly support legal abortion. Why can you make a blanket statement and it is not "racist" but Santorum cannot?
Further, I would agree that the destruction of nascent life is not on the same level as the horrible evil of slavery. It is worse.
I stated a fact. Most blacks do vote Democrat. It was upwards of 90% in the 2008 election. There is nothing racist in pointing that out. I did not state that all of those voters think alike, just that they voted Democrat, and have been doing so as long as abortion has been an issue. I did not give a motive for their doing so, I just stated something that is easily verifiable.
Santorum says it is "extraordinary for a black man" to be pro-choice and disagree with him. Why is it extraordinary, Paine? Why does the president's race have anything to do with his stance on abortion? Santorum is the one bringing race into an issue where race is irrelevant. He is the one who compares the experience of being a slave (one he knows nothing about) to the "experience" of being a microscopic group of cells.
Santorum brought race into the equation and made a racist assumption based on...nothing. My comments are not in any way the same, as I don't find it "extraordinary" that all black people don't think alike.
Abortion for the sake of convenience or for birth control is not the way to go, in my book, but I don't believe this is up to me to decide. The person carrying the fetus is the one who should be making decisions about it, along with her partner and/or family. I have a problem with politicians or religious groups making these kinds of decisions for people.
I find it interesting that there are so many people seem to enjoy describing themselves as "libertarians" these days... it's like some kind of fad. But when it comes to things like drug legalization or legalized abortions, they go all jelly-like. They are no more libertarian than I am. I could go around all giddy and excited, telling everyone I am a "libertarian", because I favor drug legalization and legalized abortion, but I am not for shrinking government to the size of a bathtub... and that is what most people seem to like about being "libertarian" nowadays.
But back on topic! I am someone with a family member who would have died had a tubal pregnancy not been ended. The operation done on her ended a pregnancy but saved her life. Losing her would have been unbearable, and would have been senseless. I'll support efforts to keep abortion from being outlawed, especially in cases of rape or incest or when the continuation of the pregnancy poses a threat (i.e. a non-viable pregnancy that is life-threatening to the mother).
Having had direct experience in these kinds of situations can help form an opinion on the matter. So can talking with people who have made the decision to have an abortion.
So for what it's worth, I agree with Bill Clinton. that abortion should be safe, legal, and rare.
As for Rick Santorum, I have little else to say but
"Sphinctum Sphinctorum".
Abortion for the sake of convenience or for birth control is not the way to go, in my book, I agree and I believe this is rare. I also think the right, which is primarily controlled by males, makes getting regular birth control harder to get therefore abortion DOES get used as birth control more frequently so you can not blame the female for using abortion in this manner when that happens. Of course the right is the first friggin group to scream about this fact when it happens.
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