On Human Life

I still have to pinch myself to make sure that I am awake. A day that I didn't think that I would live to see arrived, and a historic moment occurred in a park where I played countless concerts. Sadly, it was a moment that I could not experience in person. I cried with so many other Americans when Obama walked out with his family. I felt something that I thought I had lost forever: true love for my country.

For so long my love was tarnished with a cynicism and hopelessness that is hard to explain but is something that two black strangers instinctively know as they nod to one another on the street. A hardness within me crumbled when I watched Obama walk down that stage and I let the tears flow.

In the days that followed, I have heard expressions of everything from doom to adulation on his election. But, there is one group that mourns, really mourns his appointment. That is those who for the sake of unborn millions, cast their vote against the junior Senator from Illinois.

It is no secret that I am pro-life. I do not hide it and I am not ashamed of it. Some Americans are given the right to decide whether another group of Americans lives or dies, because the weaker voiceless group looks different than the stronger. It is a familiar story, and in our country, an old one. But it is far from simple. To most in the modern-day pro life movement overturning Roe v. Wade is the answer. If abortion is made illegal, babies will be saved. To support a candidate who is pro-choice is the ultimate betrayal.

But I think that the ultimate betrayal is something much more insidious. Abortion has been legal and illegal at various times. But women have continued to seek out abortions, and some despite considerable physical and personal costs. Why? For many women it is because they continue to be treated as if they were less than human by our culture.

A law will not stem the tide of abortion without a seismic shift in the way women are treated. Just like the passage of the 13th Amendment and Reconstruction didn’t ensure racial equality in the U.S,--that is still a fight that is being waged even with the extraordinary step of the election of the first Black president--a law against abortion will not mark an end to abortions.

Look around at our culture – it is socially acceptable to use derogatory language about women on network TV, in common conversation, and in the media. No woman, no matter how much power or schooling they have, are sheltered from this, but rather we are daily bombarded. How is it right that women are dismissed from work, compelled to drop out of school, and face lower income possibilities due to the working of their bodies. This includes pregnancy but it is not limited to that – most women have felt some discrimination due to the whole gamut of womens' health issues. In the fight for a "culture of life" it seems as if nobody is fighting for change on this front. It isn’t even on the docket.

We must struggle with the same ardor for laws that ensure child-care, equal pay, and forbid employers to discriminate against women at all stages of life. Most everyone gives lip service to the notion that a rising number of abortions is not a good thing. But I offer this challenge: get specific about what is mean by education. It is not enough to have an awkward conversation in high school health class. Education must be done within an environment where it is not OK to say B**** and laugh. Where it is not ok to discriminate against women. To those who would save the silent millions, I challenge you to think past Roe V. Wade. How loud is the outcry when women are denied paid maternity and even more widespread not given equal pay for equal work?

Discrimination against women must crumble before real change can happen.

But it doesn’t even seem like this is on the table...