Conciliatory Fighting Words

By Daniel Bigler :: Monday May 18, 2009

E.J. Dionne, op-ed columnist for the Washington Post, writing about Barack Obama’s recent speech at Notre Dame addressing abortion:

Facing down protesters who didn’t want him at Notre Dame, President Obama fought back not with harsh words but with the most devastating weapons in his political arsenal: a call for “open hearts,” “open minds,” “fair-minded words” and a search for “common ground.”

There were many messages sent from South Bend. Obama’s opponents seek to reignite the culture wars. He doesn’t. They would reduce religious faith to a narrow set of issues. He refused to join them. They often see theological arguments as leading to certainty. He opted for humility.

Many of my friends know all too well my stance on abortion. It’s a topic I can rant on for days, mainly because of just how poorly people understand its realities – and how quickly they can be oversimplified or overridden by dogma. But the singular, statistical facts about abortion are these:

1. Making abortion illegal has no impact on the number of abortions performed (in fact, the countries with the lowest rates of abortion also have the most open and supportive laws regarding abortion).
2. A shocking 75% of abortions are driven primarily by economic reasons – women don’t feel they can afford to raise a child or will have the support to raise a child.
3. Finally, social and economic supports do more to decrease abortion rates than any judicial or legislative efforts. This is not a war on abortion, but a war on poverty.

This is the reality we face with abortion, regardless of your disposition, values or dialectic.

The American Church needs to realize this – and recognize that President Obama’s and Democrats’ longstanding commitment to providing these types of social and economic supports for the poorest among us might actually make more of a difference in reducing the number of abortions than their own efforts.

Instead, most “pro life” – and equally, “pro choice” – efforts have ignored these basic facts and devolved the conversation into a culture war.

What we need to seek is instead a common ground between the two, ultimately insufficient, labels. We need, as Notre Dame president Reverend John I. Jenkins said, a place of conciliatory dialogue where we can approach each other and the matter at hand “with love and a generous spirit.”

Tagged under: abortion, abortionreduction, barackobama, faith :: #