Let’s tax abortion!
- Sep 12, 2008 - 1 -
The topic of abortion has become front and center for conservatives in the presidential election, with questions for both candidates about the issue now on the table. One question that remains unanswered is why legislators have not been proactive in seeking to stem the tide of abortion in the United States.
In the 35 years since Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion throughout the nation, the debate over abortion has shifted. In the early days of the abortion battle, liberals insisted that the baby in the womb was anything but a developing human being—a “blob of tissue” they said. However, with advances in medical technology even the most ardent proponents of abortion rights now admit that the baby in the womb is indeed human, and looks like one, too.
The debate now centers on personhood. The question pro-choicers currently pose is: “When does the fetus actually become a person?” Of course, they maintain the answer is not until birth, or even sometime afterward. The most radical of the pro-abortion community, like Princeton University bioethics professor Peter Singer, believe the baby doesn’t achieve personhood until weeks after birth.
In order to sway the masses that abortion should remain legal, pro-choicers have taken a more measured approach toward their public pronouncements in support of the procedure. Now some supporters of abortion say that abortion is indeed a tragedy. However, they maintain that because unplanned pregnancies still occur to women in difficult circumstances, abortion should be “safe, legal, and rare.”
It is time for pro-life legislators to force their pro-choice colleagues to put their legislation where their mouths are. If they are indeed serious about making abortion rare, then call them on it. How? In the past if liberals didn’t like a practice or behavior, they have employed a systematic approach to curtail it: demonize it, tax it, regulate it.
Take cigarette smoking, for instance. First, they educated people to all the dangers and ills of smoking. The second prong employed in the war on smoking was taxation, to make the product so expensive people will no longer be able to afford to smoke.
While education and taxation have helped reduce smoking in the U.S., regulation has also played a part. Tobacco products are restricted as to where they can advertise, with nothing allowed via the airwaves. Federal law also requires warning labels on cigarette packs. Additionally, no one under 18 is legally permitted to purchase cigarettes.
Has the media campaign, combined with taxation and regulation worked? Yes. In the 1970s, when legislators began to go after tobacco products in earnest, approximately 40% of Americans smoked. Today the figure is estimated to be around 21%.
If advocates of abortion rights are serious about making the practice rare, perhaps it is time to force them to highlight all the negative aspects and possible ills associated with abortion. If they really want to make abortion rare, then they should help educate women on post-abortion syndrome and the abortion-breast cancer link.
Pro-choice legislators say they want abortion to be rare, so let them propose taxes on the clinics that perform the procedure. If the procedure becomes expensive, perhaps some women will choose other alternatives to abortion.
Pro-life legislators should insist that abortion be heavily regulated. Restrict advertising for abortion providers and insist that women seeking abortions be given a warning concerning the possible negative consequences of abortion. Additionally, establish a federally mandated minimum age of 18 for abortions.
While I look forward to the day that Roe v. Wade is a sad footnote in history, that day is still somewhere in the future. Until then, our pro-life legislators should be more proactive on their pro-choice colleagues concerning their desire for abortion to be “rare.”
Ask them to demonize it, tax it, and regulate it the same way they do cigarettes. If pro-choicers don’t agree, their hypocrisy will be all too apparent.
This article is reprinted from the August 28, 2008, issue of The Baptist Record, the newspaper of the Mississippi Baptist Convention. The author, Kelly Boggs, is the editor of Louisiana’s Baptist Message.
The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission works to protect the sanctity of human life. If you would like to learn more about this issue, additional resources are available here. If your church is interested in purchasing bulletin inserts or other materials on the sanctity of human life, please visit our online bookstore and erlc.com.
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1 On Sep 16th, 2008, at 8:08pm, Jesse Sproat wrote:
A very interesting idea, but there is one small problem. During the Prohibition Years, the illicit market for liquor and beer was a large black market. A severe tax on abortions could drive women who want abortions to do it in very dangerous situations. With a heavy tax on the procedure, you will need a regulating agency , which would mean more government regulation and bureaucracy. Don’t get me wrong I am completely pro-life and I pray for the reversal of Roe v. Wade.