Abortion Is Racism?

Oh, I see. The latest meme out of the religious right wing (the same people who wish to argue that being gay is an acceptable reason to be shot) is that abortion is racist because it can be used as a form of ethnic population control.

Of course, like any technology, procedures like abortion can be used for both good and ill. To make his case, Coren cites a supposed telephone conversation between someone wanting to make a donation to Planned Parenthood that would be earmarked specifically for a patient based on their ethnicity.

Based on this, Coren figures that Abortion is just evil, and is being used for something approximating genocide. Lovely. That's about as logical as the twit I blogged about earlier today who tried to blame Larry King for getting himself shot. Whatever. The point around the abortion discussion is that a woman has control over her own body. If more black women wind up using abortions, perhaps what we should spend the time to understand why these abortions are happening (perhaps its a function of grinding poverty? Perhaps she (the woman) would find herself dreadfully beaten by her spouse if she became obviously pregnant? The reasons for someone seeking an abortion are many and not always trivial. Even if that money was officially "earmarked" in a way that seemed racist, it may end up doing a lot more good than Mr. Coren imagines - perhaps by allowing someone to keep their job, or survive just a little longer to escape an abusive partner with their existing children.

Of course, coming from the same lunkhead who called for dropping nukes on Iran, I'm not at all sure that Coren's moralizing position here means that much. Perhaps Mr. Coren would do better to pay attention to his own life, and get his nose out of the lives of others - especially when it's quite clear he's somewhat less capable of empathy than your average rock.