Selling Your Soul for a Fantasy

“I’m voting for Trump because he’s pro-life.”

Hang on a moment. Trump has made vowing to build a wall across the U.S./Mexican border the signature mark of his campaign. He has pledged to deport eleven million undocumented immigrants. These are people who came here to build better lives, to give their children a better life than they had. And yet, at Trump rallies you hear thousands of people chanting “BUILD THE WALL! BUILD THE WALL!” How is stirring up anti-immigrant sentiment and promising to tear families apart “pro-life”?

“That’s different. Abortion is about life and death.”

Okay, well, what about refugees? Trump has promised to bar Syrian refugees from entering our country, along with refugees from many other similarly troubled countries. In many cases these are people who have fled for their lives, escaping bombs or soldiers who might kill them. They’ve left everything. They’ve lost everything. How is shutting the door to these people “pro-life”?

“You don’t understand. Trump will appoint pro-life Supreme Court justices.”

Have you seen how Donald Trump talks about women? He openly boasted about being able to sexually assault women and get away with it because he’s so rich and powerful. He rates women by their appearances, and dismisses those who aren’t at least a 7. He called a lawyer who asked for a break to pump breastmilk for her baby “disgusting.” He said he would only stay with his wife if she was in a horrible car accident if her breasts were still okay. How is any of this “pro-life”?

“Abortion kills babies. That’s what we’re talking about—killing babies.”

But what about other people whose lives are threatened by Trump and the violence he incites? Last week a gay man was assaulted by Trump supporters who told him that if Trump is elected, people like him will become illegal. LGBT individuals often live under the threat of violence. I have a trans friend who had to relocate a few years ago, and when she did so “somewhere I will not get killed” was her number one qualification in selecting a new place to live. Do gay and trans lives not have value?

“Trump doesn’t want anyone to kill anyone. Abortion kills people.”

Actually, Trump has called for violence against protestors on multiple occasions. “If you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them, would you? Seriously.” That is an actual thing Trump said at an actual rally. As protestors were escorted out of one of his rallies, he said this: “Part of the problem and part of the reason it takes so long is nobody wants to hurt each other anymore.” Trump has refused to say that he will concede if he loses. Some of his supporters are now calling for another revolutionary war if he loses, and he has not condemned their actions. Trump also once said he could shoot someone dead in the middle of the street and people would still support him. This does not sound like someone who values life.

“Sure, Trump isn’t perfect. But he says he is pro-life.”

No, he’s really not. Look, for decades now, black Americans have suffered from racially discriminatory policing. In the last few years, the’ve created a movement—Black Lives Matter—calling for police reform. When asked about Black Lives Matter, Trump has spoken in favor of giving police more power and against police reform. He has called for reinstating stop and frisk, a police that was struck down by the courts for its inherently racist application. He speaks constantly of restoring “law and order,” a racist dog whistle that goes back to the 1960s. He has praised police without any caveats on every occasion possible. How can someone be pro-life, and yet so cavalier about police brutality?

“You misunderstand me. I’m talking about innocent babies.”

Ah, see, that’s the problem. You focus on the unborn at the expense of the born. Many people feel you care only for the unborn, you realize, because your concern seems to evaporate at the moment of birth. You put abortion ahead of every other issue. You’re supporting a man who wants to shut the door to refugees desperately searching for some place to start over, who speaks of women as objects to be consumed, who incites violence and has actually said he thinks more violence in policing would be beneficial, just because he says he’ll appoint pro-life Supreme Court justices. Can you see who that looks to the outside observer?

“Things may not be perfect, but at least those people have a chance to live.”

Okay, let me change tact here slightly. Are you aware that the best way to reduce the number of abortions performed is to increase women’s access to longterm birth control? A study conducted by Washington University found that “providing birth control to women at no cost” cut the abortion rate “by a range of 62 to 78 percent compared to the national rate.” When Colorado offered teens free IUDs and implants, longterm birth control with a lower fail rate than other methods, the abortion rate among teenagers fell by 42%. Perhaps because Democratic administrations work to improve birth control access, the abortion rate tends to fall more dramatically under Democratic presidents than under Republican presidents. Wouldn’t it make sense to support the candidate who wants to improve birth control access, given that greater access to longterm birth control decreases the number of abortions performed?

“I’m not interested in letting people have free sex on the government dime.”

Wow. I’m going to pretend you didn’t just say that. Let’s talk about something else. Seven in ten women who have abortions do so at least in part for financial reasons. Six in ten already have at least one child to care for. There are women who have abortions today who would not do so if they had access to paid maternity leave, affordable childcare, a better paying job, and so forth. Making community college free would help women obtain the jobs they need to support children, nationally mandated maternity leave would help them afford to take time off to for childbirth, government assistance for childcare would enable them to care for their children while working, and reforming welfare to allow them to qualify while attending school would help them obtain degrees. All of this would go a long way toward eliminating the financial pressures that influence many women’s decision to abort. All of these are programs that Hillary would likely support, but Donald Trump does not.

“I’m sorry, but we can’t have people mooching off the state.” 

Hang on a second. You just said what matters most is making sure that embryos/fetuses that are conceived have a chance to develop and be born. Didn’t you say that that comes before anything else? If that comes before helping refugees find a place to live, ensuring that gay people don’t have to live in fear of violence, and treating women as people rather than sex objects, doesn’t it also come before your concerns about premarital sex and dependence on government programs?

“What’s really important is getting pro-life Supreme Court justices.”

Nice dodge. But I see what’s going on here. You’re not interested in decreasing the number of abortions being performed—which would require getting at the reasons women have abortions—you’re just interested in banning it. There are many countries around the world where abortion is banned. Abortions still happen in those countries, at roughly the same rate, but their maternal mortality rates are higher, and in some cases women are jailed for having miscarriages, or afraid to go to the hospital when they’re bleeding out, whether because they’ve had an abortion or because they’ll afraid they’ll be accused of having had one. Banning abortion does not address the reasons women have abortions, and it won’t make those reasons disappear. It just makes obtaining an abortion more dangerous.

“Did you hear how Hilary talked about abortion in the debates?”

I see. What matters to you is rhetoric, then, not results. What matters is moral outrage, not what policies will reduce the number of abortions being performed.

“That’s not what I said.”

Actually, it is.

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