Pro-Choice? Pro-Life?

A recent Pew poll suggests that more Americans are now on the Pro-Life side of things ...

Check out this thoughtful opinion in the New York Times ...

Time will tell, but frankly I was surprised, and further polls will give additional insight into what Amerians think and believe.

For a good many years now, Americans have raised questions about abortion and possible restrictions while yet supporting the continued legalization of it.

This morning, I watched a video feed about student protests at Notre Dame over Obama's visit, and one young man who said, "We can't afford to be sending the message that we value power and fame over our Catholic identity."

I already know that the Catholic Church would like to see abortion totally outlawed, and I know that conservative Christians would join their Catholic friends in the effort.

But what would happen if abortion became illegal?

Would abortion go away?

Would the wealthy simply fly their daughters to other countries?

Would the Catholic Church open up hundreds of orphanages?

Would poor women resort to homemade remedies and back-alley doctors?

Let's get graphic: a 12-year old girl raped by her uncle would have to take her pregnancy to term? And then what? Who would care for the child? And so on and so forth.

The Pro-Choice side of it enjoys the position now of opposing what's legal. That's an easy position to hold!

But I have a tough time imaging what it would be like if Roe v. Wade were overturned.

For myself, I stand behind all Pro-Choice legislation, because I am Pro-Life, and I believe that life is best served when we affirm the freedoms of Democracy - even when such freedom may run counter to personal opinion or faith.

I am no friend to the cultural instincts of the Roman Catholic Church, still governed by thought-forms and cultural inclinations shaped in the Middle Ages when the Roman Church called all the shots and used kings and queens to enforce Church beliefs and morality.

I don't think anyone in their right mind would want a return to the Middle Ages, nor would anyone want to see women once again become prisoners of anti-abortion politics, except the far, far, right which has a demonstrably poor record for women and for freedoms.

I'm curious how this will play out, but when I see a young man speaking so fervently of "Catholic identity," I really wonder, and I grow concerned.

Jesus said that we ought to be the "salt of the earth" - and that's a modest metaphor. To flavor life, but not to overwhelm it. Yet there are religious movements, often coupled with far right politics and Neo-con philosophies that would strip away our Democratic freedoms and install a theocracy, similar to the Middle Ages and today's Islamic theocracies - and it's not a pretty picture!

I stand up for freedom on all fronts.

And particularly the freedom of choice! And that is the highest form of being Pro-Life!