David Retz - Solvang California, May 17, 2009

President Obama prescribes regulation as a solution for many of our current national dilemmas:  the car industry (emission controls), banks, mortgage companies, and (soon) health care.

Why not regulate another highly-profitable industry: the abortion business? This is one that is cash-up-front (either by the one seeking the abortion or by the government indirectly through agencies such as Planned Parenthood), and virtually without financial risk of malpractice - ironically, as the rest of the health care industry wallows in high overhead of malpractice insurance protection.

He gave a very logical presentation on Sunday, May 17,  to the graduating class of Notre Dame University - appearing as the only source of reason on the abortion issue.  A handful of “wacko’s” got themselves arrested for demonstrating, or at the beginning, interrupting his speech. He made the case that abortion is a very complex issue, not taken lightly by women seeking it, and there should be civility on both sides of the issue.

The President of Notre Dame welcomed him with open arms and gave him Carte Blanche approval for his secular message. There was no one to present an equally-persuasive argument or rebuttal afterwards - only a baby in the crowd cried out to provide some alternative view of his seemingly reasonable arguments.

His presentation of the issue is only complex because he doesn’t yet have the ability to define it. What is being aborted: is it a foetus or a human unborn child? Does abortion simply consist of ridding ourselves of unwanted tissue (much like removal of a tumor), or is it the killing of an infant? And, shades-of-gray arguments go on forever: it wouldn’t have survived outside the womb; it would be defective; it isn’t wanted; it has Down syndrome; it’s a girl; it was a one-night stand. Obfuscating what “it” is keeps the matter complex  - regardless of pay grade.

Of course, anyone who has had an ultrasound revealing the sex no longer refers to it as an “it”.

Is this really “not taken lightly?” When we recognize there were 350,000 Planned Parenthood-sponsored abortions in the USA last year alone, how did that many people make that decision? One can understand how knee surgery, chemotherapy, and having a limb removed are procedures “not taken lightly”.   The anthem is new and improved: “right to choose, not taken lightly.”

The 350,000 are just a part of a total number of abortions last year - not including those not sponsored by Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood received about $500M from the US government for their part - about $1,000 each.  If there were only 350 in the past year, one might  understand they were not taken lightly; multiply that by one thousand, and the statistics beg for an alternative explanation. Using Planned Parenthood as an example, they were able to place adoptions for about 4,000. That’s 1% of the people choosing adoptions through Planned Parenthood, as opposed to the “not taken lightly” approach, which wins 99% of the time.

As far as civility - of course people want to be civil.  But as he told the Pope, “we can agree to disagree.” This can easily be taken as an undeniably flippant and unpolite remark from an upstart politician to a person who has spent their lifetime dedicated in service to God. Was that comment civil?  Am I being civil if I refuse to speak the truth, i.e., look the other way when I believe the unborn are being murdered? Am I being civil if I stand at the entrance of a concentration camp and remind all of those running it that they are stealing human lives? The terms “civil” and “polite” are nearly identical by definition, but they are interpreted subjectively - civility and politeness are in the eyes of the beholder.  But do civility and politeness eclipse honesty?

As the President preaches civility - why not establish a civil and polite form of regulation of the abortion industry; why is this the one, highly-profitable money-maker immune to limitations (in fact, so unfettered, and almost considered an unalienable right for both users and providers)? Note: Planned Parenthood has a declared revenue level of over a billion dollars in 2008.   Perhaps Obama’s penchant for central control may turn out to be a blessing if applied across-the-board.