Black. White. Colors? To some, resolute. Clear-cut to many. What you see is what it is. Except when it comes to life issues and decisions.
Yes, I’m talking abortion and the Supreme Court’s recent decision to overthrow Roe v. Wade. To the conservative right, it was a no-brainer. To the more progressive, it was a travesty of justice.
Honestly, abortion has never been among the top 10 issues that have decided my vote. But it may now. You may question, “well how can that be?” For most conservative Christians it is the most important issue in America, and certainly deserving of support for a candidate whose viewpoint is the same. I’ve always thought it odd that Christians point to one perceived ill (or sin as they call it) over another and give it more importance or concern because Christ never did that. He didn’t rank them. A wrong was a wrong. No such thing as a biggie vs. a teeny weeny wrong. Check it out.
Wickedness, greed, envy, murder, strife, malice, gossip, slander, insolence, arrogance, boasting, abusive speech, impurity, disobedience, lack of understanding, untrustworthiness, unloving and unmerciful are all named in the scriptures. None rank higher than the others. There is no pecking order. And we are all guilty.
Yet here in America, society has created a pecking order. It is seen most readily in race, gender and economic conditions (wealth). To many, if you are not the right ethnicity, proper sexual identification or economic class, you don’t measure up.
So how does all this pertain to abortion? Actually, I do have an issue with the young, career-oriented 20-something woman who gets pregnant and just isn’t ready to take care of a child because it would interrupt her career mobility. She should have thought of that before the heat of the moment and even taken precautions. She’s upwardly mobile. Financially sound. Has access to healthcare and contraceptives. Yet, she’s pregnant and feels that bringing a son or daughter into the world would screw up her drive and opportunity for financial success and not enhance her life. Sure, even the best laid plans and protections go wrong sometimes, but perhaps there is a reason for that.
I have an even bigger issue, however, with the right wing conservative Christian bunch who slaps a Pro- Life sticker on their bumper, goes to prayer sessions about abortion, and votes for candidates who block any meaningful way to fix the real problem.
My questions to these groups are many and involve issues that they don’t want to touch, consider or get anywhere close to.
Are they ready to help children born into poverty get out of poverty? Are they willing to acknowledge that more than 60 percent of those having abortions are women of color, many of lower socio-economic status? Are they willing to support better, more available and less expensive healthcare for these children and their parents? Are they willing to support legislation that provides more aid for those mothers who bring children with disabilities (sometimes severe) into the world? Are they willing to adopt such children? (Statistics tell us that disabled children are the least likely to be adopted.) Are they willing to help these women get better education by supporting better public schools through new programs that would require higher taxes or more personal contributions? Are they willing to support programs for better jobs and job training for these women? Are they willing to reach out to the homeless woman who must sell her body to earn money for food or is pregnant because of assault? Are they willing to roll up their sleeves and find solutions to gang and gun violence at the hands of a plethora of children born out of wedlock? Are they willing to restrict guns, period! Are they willing to bring faith- based solutions to areas in which they’ve most likely never tread and stay clear of? Are they willing to provide faith-based solutions to the affluent who arrogantly flaunt their opulence and realize that “if anything happens” they have plenty of money “to take care of it?”
I think we all know that the answer is a resounding NO to these questions. And that’s where I have a problem with the decision on Roe v. Wade. The conservative right can’t continue to condemn and support one of what they perceive to be society’s ills without agreeing to help fix all these others. But they don’t. They won’t. They just don’t vote that way. They stay in in their mostly affluent suburbs, go to church every Sunday, and never once enter areas of the world where people don’t and can’t live like them, facing hurdles many of the naysayers can’t even imagine.
Bob Dickinson is president of Dickinson Partners Group and executive director of STEAM Sports Foundation, a Georgia-based 501c3 that provides scholarships for women of color. He is the author of the book “Me, Jesus, a Beer, and a Cigar.”