In exchange for Roe v Wade

America’s first Civil War lasted four years, contrasted with our second, now entering a 47^th year. The first pitted Southern slaveholders against Northern abolitionists. The second divided people of good faith between what the activists call “pro-life” and “pro-choice.”

On January 22, it will be 46 years since the Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade. Soon Roe may well be reversed, at least temporarily. Anyone who believes its reversal will end abortion has no recollection of the times that preceded the 1973 Supreme Court decision. Significantly, for a nation whose laws are based in considerable part on English common law, the criminalization of abortion did not have its roots in that source of American law.

The first U.S. laws criminalizing abortion were not enacted until Connecticut in 1821. A century and a half later came Roe v. Wade. Many people thought that had ended the war, but the court’s decision was only one more battle.

The 46-year-old war is not without casualties. Pro-lifers count what they say are millions of unborn children whose lives have been taken through abortion. Pro-choice advocates point to the murders of doctors and bombing of clinics by pro-life extremists.

Holy scripture has been a casualty, weaponized by pro-life extremists. They tortured parts of the Bible never meant to say anything about abortion, e.g. Psalms 139:13, “You knit me together in my mother’s womb.” All the while, they ignore God’s commandment to send an unfaithful wife to the priest where he would expose her to abortion. (Numbers 5)

The battle over reproductive rights also compromised the theological ethics of conservative Christians who made their peace with the most corrupt, immoral president in history because he was their last, best hope to ending Roe v. Wade.

As a direct result, the next generation will be plagued by ultra-conservative judges at every level of the judiciary who owe their enormous power to this one issue. The pro-life agenda was about courts overturning Roe. Decisions made by these extremist judges will hit that target, while causing collateral damage to the rights of working people, the environment, consumer protection, and civil rights.

This war also levied ethical costs on pro-choice advocates. Many were forced into a Faustian bargain, ignoring what most quietly believe, i.e. life begins at conception, in favor of an individual’s vaguely constitutional right to choose.

Ending this war requires imaginative thinking and rational compromises on both sides.

A Nobel peace prize awaits she or he who can negotiate an end to this struggle. Know however, it will never end so long as each side relies on courts or politicians to fight their battles. All such victories will be temporary, serving only to further incite the soldiers on both sides. It’s people of good faith who must negotiate the war’s end, focusing on life; not just the life of the fetus but the life of the child.

The basis for using the Bible a weapon in the current battle is questionable, ambiguous at best, non-existent without stretching. However, the scriptural basis for assuring that a society care for its children is unequivocal.

So, what would it take to end the war and save America from the ravages of single-issue agendas? What compromises is each side willing to make?  

I am pro-choice and if advocates named me their negotiator, here’s what I’d do. I’d exchange Roe for quality of life commitments that would assure pregnant mothers that the community cares as much for her life and the life of her child as it does for the fetus.

That compromise would demand guaranteed healthcare for all, livable wages for working families, eliminating gender-wage disparity, affordable, safe housing, quality childcare, early childhood education, adequate mental health services, access to affordable contraceptives, paid maternity leave, well-funded elementary and secondary education, and a free post high school education for every young person.

Expensive? Yes. Affordable? Absolutely, with adjustments to American priorities. Worth it? That depends on the value you put on the lives of our children, born and unborn.