Sadly, abortion is frequently used as a wedge issue to sway political debate and influence uninformed voters. The use of abortion rhetoric to sway individuals from supporting the Affordable Care Act is an example of how political opportunists selectively use the issue of abortion to gain support for much larger agendas. By turning the Affordable Care Act debate into a sanctity of life debate, politicians were able to shift the nation’s focus. Consequently, the Affordable Care Act went from a debate about increased government to an argument about increased abortions. It went from an issue of helping the poor to helping Planned Parenthood. Once the old villains were brought into the new law, the debate once again digressed to an ideological stalemate with lots of “I must defend my constitutional rights” chest thumping.
So we have individuals, organizations and businesses railing against the tyranny of government funded family planning and abortions. To defend their stance against the Affordable Care Act, they use religious and moral language that implies one must stand against government funded abortions, no matter the economic, societal or political cost. At face value these convictions might seem noble or even admirable. However, in reality, the stand against abortion at any cost dialogue has only been selectively used to attack certain political and economic agendas. Simply put: the use of anti-abortion rhetoric has been selectively implemented to advance politically conservative causes. Case in point: The lack of an anti-abortion response to Israel subsidizing abortions.
At the end of 2013, Israel announced that in 2014 they would subsidize all abortions for women 20 to 33, with a goal to eventually subsidize every abortion for every woman. The American anti-abortion response to this announcement has been almost complete silence. Which is kind of odd, if people are really concerned about their money paying for government funded abortions. The United States gives Israel billions of dollars each year to help with national security. Because of our generosity, Israel is able to fund other endeavors, such as providing free abortions for women between 20 and 33 years old.
Where is the outcry against the use of governmental money to pay for abortions in Israel? The answer is simple: Conservative groups have had a long history of actively supporting the funding of Israel. If conservative politicians speak out strongly against Israel’s current abortion policy, they will risk aligning themselves with some progressives who would like to decrease economic aid to Israel. Consequently, the same people who are refusing to support the Affordable Care Act for moral purposes are now strangely quiet about a clearer case of governmental supported abortion in Israel.
The inconsistent outrage that has accompanied the Affordable Care Act and Israel’s abortion policy is a clear example of how abortion is often selectively used as a political wedge issue. When it serves the purposes of the politicians, abortion rises to the surface. When it goes against their needed outcomes, abortion disappears into the recesses of political discourse. There are certainly many with genuine moral convictions concerning the issue of abortion. Sadly, there are others who use these convictions to manipulate and twist the real story.
Douglas Bursch is the author of Posting Peace: Why Social Media Divides Us and What We Can Do About It. He also hosts The Fairly Spiritual Show podcast.