As we approach Mother’s Day, most would agree that being a mother is an often-difficult job, particularly for those women who also work part or full time or those women who are single parents. Even stay-at-home moms have their own set of challenges. I don’t think anyone would disagree with the statement that being a mother is challenge, no matter how ultimately rewarding having a family is. It’s also a huge commitment to become a mother. “According to a study conducted by The United States Department of Agriculture, the average cost of raising a child from birth through the age of 17 will cost $233,610”.1
One would logically think that the decision to undertake such a challenge and commitment as motherhood is a decision that should be made by an individual or a couple within the context of their own circumstances. However, if Roe v. Wade is overturned, per the leaked Supreme Court draft decision, that decision will, in some parts of the country, be made by the government. Are the women in this country no more than breeding stock?
Keeping with the theme of irony and hypocrisy that seems to permeate the current Republican party, I looked at the teen pregnancy rates by state in this country. What is immediately apparent is that these are all bright red states with the exception of New Mexico. These are also the same states that are most likely to limit access to comprehensive sex education and contraception to teens (and everyone else).
“Here are the 10 states with the highest teen birth rate:2
- Arkansas (30 per 100k)
- Mississippi (29.1 per 100k)
- Louisiana (27.8 per 100k)
- Oklahoma (27.4 per 100k)
- Alabama (25.6 per 100k)
- West Virginia (25.2 per 100k)
- Kentucky (24.9 per 100k)
- New Mexico (24.4 per 100k)
- Texas (24 per 100k)
- Tennessee (23.7 per 100k)”
Here are the 10 states with the highest poverty rates as of the latest Census data:3
- Mississippi: 20.3% of population lives below the poverty line
- Louisiana: 19.2% of population lives below the poverty line
- New Mexico: 19.1% of population lives below the poverty line
- West Virginia: 17.6% of population lives below the poverty line
- Kentucky: 17.3% of population lives below the poverty line
- Arkansas: 17.0% of population lives below the poverty line
- Alabama: 16.7% of population lives below the poverty line
- Oklahoma: 15.7% of population lives below the poverty line
- Tennessee: 15.2% of population lives below the poverty line
- South Carolina: 15.2% of population lives below the poverty line
There is almost a one-to-one correlation between the poorest states, the states with the highest teen pregnancy rates and the states with the most restrictive abortion laws. How can anyone look at this data and think overturning Roe v. Wade is the solution to anything? Logic and facts clearly have no place in these discussions.
To emphasize this point even more, yesterday I read a column by Alice Stewart, a former Republican strategist, and sometimes contributor to CNN, in which she used the potential overturning of Roe v. Wade as a justification for why she voted for Trump.
“As a pro-life social conservative, I received my fair share of criticism for supporting Donald Trump for president,” says CNN’s political commentator Alice Stewart. Looking past the “mean tweets and online insults”, she instead focused on who Trump appointed to the Supreme Court. Some, says Stewart, accused her of “making a deal with the devil” by supporting Trump. “But I held my ground, and now my patience is being richly rewarded: we have a Supreme Court with a majority-judicial philosophy that reflects my views on Roe v. Wade.” Stewart says that Trump “said and did a lot of things I didn’t agree with, but I voted for him to be my president, not my pastor.” Stewart is “unapologetic about supporting a pro-life candidate who talked the talk, and walked the walk”. The forthcoming Supreme Court decision on Roe v. Wade “underscores the wisdom of that decision”.4
So here you have an intelligent woman who, in spite of the fact that the majority of Americans do not want Roe v. Wade overturned, in spite of the fact that Trump tried (and continues to try) to undermine democracy in this country and in spite of all of the economic evidence that overturning Roe v. Wade will be a disaster, is so myopic about this issue that she makes the statement “my patience has been richly rewarded,” when referring to her support for Trump.
I guess in the future, if someone else comes along and does everything they can to undermine democracy and turn this country into an authoritarian regime like what is going on in Hungary, as long as that person panders to the pro-life crowd, they will support that leader regardless of what other damage he/she does to this country.
Happy Mother’s Day!