Abortion.

I am amazed and appalled at the emphasis being put on abortion in this election cycle and in all election cycles.  It's stupid and irresponsible to vote on this issue for several reasons.

Number one is that laws against abortion do not stop abortions from occurring.  There is really good evidence that while abortion was illegal in this country, many women still attempted to terminate their pregnancies to disastrous effect in many cases.  So, a law making abortion illegal would be ineffective.

Two:  The best way to cut down on abortions is by cutting down on the number of unintended pregnancies.  A law against abortion will have no effect whatsoever on that number.  What does have a significant impact on unintended pregnancy is access to birth control.  Most people in favor of overturning Roe vs. Wade also want to make it more difficult for women to get birth control.  Planned Parenthood is one of the foremost providers of low cost birth control in the U.S. and receives significant funding from Title X in order to provide those services, but many of the politicians who oppose abortion also tried to strip Title X funding from Planned Parenthood earlier this year.  One would think that politicians intent on bringing down the number of abortions might try to increase Title X funding rather than eliminating it.

Even more significant in reducing unintended pregnancies is education.  The more education women have access too, the lower the rates of unintended pregnancy.  Rates drop even more as women are exposed to sex education that includes a accurate information about anatomy and birth control methods.  Yet, again, politicians opposed to abortion tend to be opposed to accurate and complete sex education programs.  Many prefer abstinence only sex ed. which has been shown to be ineffective in curbing the rates of unintended pregnancy.

Why are politicians opposed to sex ed. and birth control when their stated goal is to eliminate abortion in America?  My opinion is that these politicians don't actually care about unborn children.  I think their hidden agenda is nothing more or less than stripping away women's rights.  Why anyone would want to do this is a mystery to me, but I am at a loss as to any other explanation for the idiotic policy stances that some politicians seem to be taking on these issues.

They claim that birth control, sex ed. and abortion all fall under the heading of immorality.  Supposedly, birth control and sex ed. are evil because they encourage pre-marital sex, but a quick look at the numbers indicates otherwise.  Kids, and especially girls, who participate in sex education that includes accurate information about birth control are more likely to delay their first sexual encounter, and much more likely to practice safe sex when they do make the decision to have sex.  Both sex ed. and birth control tend to empower women and girls to make better decisions about their sex lives, so politicians must have another agenda.

Disempowering women makes sense politically for social conservatives because women, especially young women, tend to vote democratic.  Women who have kids early and often tend to have lower levels of education, which means they'll stay home on election day.

All of this is disturbing, but there is another aspect to the debate that I find more frustrating still.  Abortion is a smokescreen.  Politicians with other agendas tend to use abortion as a means to polarize voters who might otherwise vote on more relevant policy issues.  It is a matter of slight of hand.  Instead of voters being focused on foreign policy, where President Obama has excelled (ending the Iraq war, killing Osama Bin Laden, forging ties in Asia), conservatives are trying to focus voters on abortion.  Instead of looking at tax policy where they are trying to raise taxes on the poor and middle class while lowering them yet again on the richest 1%, conservatives are trying to attract our gaze to personhood amendments and stripping funding from Planned Parenthood. 

The fact is that abortion has been legal for over thirty years now, and though conservatives have succeeded in chipping away at women's rights by limiting abortions in many ways, disrupting sex education, and limiting access to birth control, there is still a hard core of men and women determined to preserve those hard won rights.  The issue is a stalemate, a non-issue, a trick used to separate us.  Despite what conservatives say, pro-choice Americans are committed to reducing the number of unintended pregnancies in this country. No one is fighting for more abortions. 

My advice:  Don't vote on this issue.  Ignore it, and look at other, more relevant factors before you cast your vote.