Abortion in America (v1.0)

The supreme court recently handed down a ruling overturning roe versus wade. 

First, let me make one thing clear. I come from a culture where abortion and family planning are widespread and normal. To me a fetus is a potential future life but not life. But further along in the pregnancy it counts as a life much more. 

Abortion has been legal in India since 1971 but it is not a blank check. Family planning was practiced way before then. I came to US in 1975. It has been getting safer, cheaper, and better ever since in India. 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_in_India

 If you look at abortion in India, they used criteria like rape, incest, life of mother, failure of contraceptive, poverty of mother, mental problems of mother, defective fetus, amount of time in pregnancy as criteria on who can get an abortion. It is not a blank check. I am OK with that although in America they were given broader permission to abort in roe vs wade because America also values more equality of sex and freedom. Hinduism does not forbid abortion or say a fetus has the same rights as a living human, just like the Jewish synagogue that sued Florida in state court saying their religion does not forbid it and in fact requires it under certain cases. (see reference: Florida's new abortion law violates religious freedom, synagogue says : NPR). No religion has primacy over any other in America. Religion is a factor in abortion discussions but you must factor in all religions, and as you will see soon, the religions cancel each other out so the only thing that can be done is for a person to follow her religion and not personally get an abortion if their religion forbids. 

Interestingly India allows abortion due to failure of contraceptive. That sounds like a big loophole you can drive a bus through. Anyone can say their condom failed independent of if it is true or not and get someone to support the claim. That implies to me India does not seriously plan to enforce the rules limiting abortion because it is not a totalitarian state. 

India seems to allow abortion a little beyond what the holy hindu text says (20 weeks). Here is the quote: "Thus, the duration of pregnancy can be divided into two stages: pregnancy before 16 weeks, wherein the fetus is without life and pregnancy after 16 weeks, wherein the fetus is endowed with Jiva, with 16th week forming the threshold for the entry of the Jiva into the Hrdaya of the fetus.". This is what a google search tells me islam says: "According to the jurists (fuqaha), the soul (ruh) enters the foetus at around 120 days (4 months) post-conception. They have based this duration upon a Qur’anic verse and a Hadith of the beloved of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace).". This is what a google search tells me judaism says: "Most often in Jewish sacred literature, a fetus in the womb is considered a human life “under construction.” The soul is usually described as arriving when the first breath of life is taken at birth.". Catholicism bans abortions. 

With regards to abortion in US my beef is not with the Supreme Court. They did not ban abortion. Likely they got tired of being targeted and interfered and messed with by politicians over a sustained period for Roe vs Wade and just decided to throw up their hands and give up and punt it to legislatures. Also, Abortion was used as a litmus test for recent supreme court nominees and the process used would influence the nominees selected. There will always be a lingering suspicion that the judgement was a foregone conclusion given the nomination process and the culmination of a decades long GOP drive. My beef is with the Republican states (at-least 10 - may expand to 26) who fully banned abortions even in some cases for rape and incest (example South Dakota, Arkansas). A 6-week abortion ban has in reality the same effect as a complete ban. They will now try to enforce their ban using invasive techniques. However, Abortion cannot be stopped unless you are a totalitarian state. This is especially true in America with a keen sense of freedom, privacy and equal rights, and it being a society that gives such poor support for the vulnerable who are desperate. History shows that such bans cannot be enforced without using Authoritarian actions or becoming a surveillance state. Technology has also evolved since before Roe versus Wade.

Also, the sad part is friction or outright hostility between the anti-abortion states and federal Govt or between the individual states that allow or disallow abortion will accelerate. For example, a pro-abortion state doctor may provide teleconsultation to a patient in an antiabortion state. Or a pro-abortion state pharmacy may ship abortion pills via mail to anti-abortion state patient or an out of state organization may pay for abortion travel. Corporations that pay for travel of employees for abortion may be penalized. Web sites that provide abortion information may be banned. There will be offensive and defensive laws and barriers erected between states. The DOJ will sue anti-abortion states to overturn laws, a pro-abortion state may stop cooperating with investigations launched by an anti-abortion state. It is going to be awful. It will be like just before the civil war when you had slave and free states.

It is interesting that huge corporations with headquarters in Texas like Tesla, HP, Oracle have added benefits that pay for employee travel out of state for abortions. Huge numbers of other major companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, Disney, Google, Major financial companies including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Citibank have recently added this benefit. Are republicans going to wage war on corporate America? It is only the poor or minorities or colored who won't be able to travel, who tend to vote democrat, who will be forced to carry to term. Is this what these GOP states want? Will they provide any support at all for these unfortunates? I doubt it.  

People often say abortion is bad for women's mental health. A major recent study challenge that. It shows that 99% of women do not regret the abortion and the overwhelming sense is one of relief. Abortion does NOT cause depression, does NOT cause suicide ideation, does not cause substance abuse, does NOT cause anxiety disorders. See the study reporting below. 

Myths about abortion and women's mental health are widespread, experts say - CNN

A recent poll from the Public Religion Research Institute found that 65 percent of the country thinks abortion should be legal in all or most situations. The outlier is the GOP’s White, evangelical Protestant base, with only 25 percent of that demographic saying the same. “By contrast,” the poll reports, “64% of white Catholics, 69% of white mainline (nonevangelical) Protestants, 75% of Black Protestants, 75% of Hispanic Catholics, 82% of non-Christian religious Americans, and 84% of religiously unaffiliated Americans support abortion legality in most or all cases.”

What prolife movement adherents fails to acknowledge is that having a child is a huge economic decision also. It takes huge amounts to raise a child, pay for childcare, pay the child's health insurance and medical bills, pay for education, etc. The principle of individuals making their own economic decisions are fundamental to a free society. 

In Hawaii where I live, abortion is legal and like roe versus wade, so me and my wife are happy, but unfortunately, I suspect republicans may try for a national abortion ban that override state law if they get full power (Mr. Mike Pence is already talking about it) and that would be a calamity. Democrats beware.

Is the American experiment a failure? Given the huge differences in ideas like abortion, LGBTQ, contraception, voting, guns, limits on free speech, immigration, safety net, and taxation, between the west/northeast and the center or even between rural and urban, how will the country reconcile these differences? Who knows? This article in CNN explores this and it is scary to read. Increasingly you see people moving to where there are more like-minded people. 

Why the US 'does not get to assume that it lasts forever' | CNN Politics