A statistically improbable polymath's views on politics and culture.

 
A couple of days ago I was chatting with some friends when the Terri Schiavo case was brought up. One girl noted that it would've been weird had Ms. Schiavo been pregnant while in a persistant vegetative state.

Suddenly it all became clear:
Terri Schiavo was a womb unconnected to a will. Unfortunately for many of the more militant pro-lifers, most wombs tend to be connected to some sort of human individual with her own ideas about life. Now, outlawing abortion is one thing--but will it stop abortions? Not entirely--the rich will go to Mexico, the middle class will use herbal concontions, and the poor will ask their boyfriends to hit them in the stomach.

Really, the only way to make sure a woman won't have an abortion is to make her a prisoner. But guards can yield to sympathy or be bribed with sex or money. The only way to ensure that a person is truly imprisoned is to remove all control of her body from her--including ways to communicate. That is, to put her in a permanent vegetative state. It's better than The Handmaid's Tale.

Why would people who profess to be for life be for such a thing? Let's not kid ourselves--do you really think Tom DeLay is interested in life? He's interested in control. What better way is there to control someone from the time they're born than to start when they're conceived?

I realize that this thought experiment is unlikely to occur. However, it's probably closer to the desires of the radical theocrats than the "eliminate God in all facets of life agenda" is to leftists' desires.
posted by Maureen at 3:09 PM