As a man who has never had to be around someone who has needed an abortion, I don’t have much of a foot in this argument, but I’ll try to expound a bit on some areas where I think Erik Bussa might be a little misled.
For starters, the idea of prison time and a $50,000 fine for an abortion is absurd. As an out-of-state student, it costs me about $25,000 a year to go here in the first place, so there’s no way I could imagine a young woman having to pay twice that if she happened to get pregnant. Heavy fines and jail time would only destroy the youthful years of anyone and would lead to more back-alley abortions, usually involving coat hangers, scary-looking kitchen utensils and/or illegally-cut drugs. A society of youth afraid of the government is not what we need, and five years in jail and $50,000 shouldn’t be a penalty for a sexual mistake.
I am in no way a baby-killer and don’t plan to be. I do think that getting an abortion is morally wrong, but unlike most people, I don’t think that I’m in the place to deliver moral judgment upon anyone. I am not in any way in a position to tell anyone what to do with their body. If a girl wants to get an abortion, it should be her choice to suffer the moral and social consequences. An abortion is a decision to be made with friends, family, clergy and doctors without having to suffer the retribution of a bunch of old man lawmakers who know nothing about what its like. Abortions aren’t something that women want to get — like a tattoo or a piercing — and comparing the two is like apples and oranges.
There should be a consequence to an abortion, but it should involve someone answering to their own higher authority and not some lawmaker. Sorry, Mr. Bussa, the 1:20 ratio of people telling you how smart you are should be an indication of how practical your plan is.
Tim Rosmanfreshman in psychology
