In the first post of the series entitled “The Things I Wish They’d Say,” I said this:
“I have been disappointed by all politics for a long time now. In their absolute quest for earthly power and dominance, both parties are wildly inconsistent. Neither captures the true tenor of how I view the world.”
Nothing has happened since to change my mind. I am just as disappointed in my choice for President this year as I was when President Biden was elected. For the most part, I pay very little attention to politics, finding it such a downer that I cannot stand to listen to any politician or journalist speak for more than about thirty seconds.
That said, I acknowledge the need to be informed ahead of the upcoming election. I forced myself to watch the debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris and found it disconcerting on more levels than I can describe.
I also watched the Vice-Presidential debate. I had seen a little of JD Vance and was curious to know more. I had never seen Tim Walz and wanted to learn about him as well. I found this debate much more palatable. It was much more congenial, which I found refreshing.
In the midst of that debate, when the topic of abortion came up, I found myself liking what Senator Vance had to say. But I also could not help but feel that he missed the chance to say something that would have truly resonated with me and with the country at large.
The video above captures the beginning of the moment I am talking about.
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A little after this exchange, in response to an argument made by Governor Walls, Senator Vance said this: “Governor, I agree with you, Amber Thurmond should still be alive …….. I certainly wish that she was.”
Here’s the thing I wish he would have said after that sentence.
“The first thing the American voter should understand is this. The vast majority of Republicans, myself and President Trump included, are in favor of exceptions to restrictions on abortion that provide care when the life of the mother is in danger, or when the pregnancy results from rape or incest. This is not just true now, but it was true on the day President Biden and Vice President Harris took office. At that point in time, the Democrats controlled not just the White House, but both houses of Congress as well.
If a narrow piece of legislation that addressed just those two items would have been introduced then, those exceptions would be the law of the land now, and Democrats would have been able to take credit for that law getting passed. This also means that Amber Thurmond would likely be alive today, because the state of Georgia would not have been able to deny her care given her condition.
It’s another example of your campaign promising to take action after the election, when action could be taken right now. In fact, if the Democrats in the Senate wish to bring forth a narrow bill tomorrow ensuring these two exceptions become the law of the land, I will be happy to co-sponsor it.
Democrats accuse Republicans of grandstanding on this issue, but the truth is, both sides are guilty. Instead of acting on the things we can agree on, we load bills such as these down with attempts to further our agenda on matters that are in dispute. Democrats refuse to bring forth such a narrow bill without tacking on provisions that would restore Roe V Wade. Republicans refuse to bring forth the same bill without insisting that national restrictions on abortion are attached to it. Both sides would rather see nothing done and use the issue to energize their political bases than compromise and do the right thing.
The politics on both sides of the aisle are what cost Amber her life, and every politician in America should be ashamed. We need to set aside our differences where we can and do what the American people expect us to do, which is to enact common sense initiatives that are important to the welfare of the country regardless of the politics. Donald Trump and I, when elected, will do just that.
I want to tell you, Governor, that I deeply admire your passion when it comes to the tragedy of Amber’s death. I believe it is sincere. I believe that you are personally aggrieved at the loss of her life.
That passion makes me wonder if you are as deeply aggrieved at the loss of the lives of Rachel Morin, Laken Riley and Jocelyn Nungary, who were murdered by illegal immigrants who never would have been in the country if not for the failures of the current administration at the border. Are President Biden and Vice President Harris as aggrieved at their loss as you are at the loss of Amber? If so, what are they doing about it? Has the administration taken every step possible to ensure that no one who crosses the border is released into the general population without being properly vetted? Are they doing everything they can to round up and deport the hundreds of thousands of convicted criminals who have entered the country during their administration?
I wonder, Governor, if your passions have not blinded you. I wonder if you realize yet that you have chosen to defend abortion by making a passionate plea in defense of a life that was needlessly lost. The very passion that you show when it comes to Amber is in and of itself a dramatic argument in favor of restricting abortion. I have to ask, if Amber’s life was so precious, why are the over sixty-four million lives that have been lost to abortion since 1973 not just as precious?
The problem with your position is that it is deeply inconsistent. You can’t treasure the life of Amber, and not also treasure the lives of Rachel and Laken and Jocelyn equally. You can’t treasure the life of Amber without treasuring the lives of every aborted child since the initial ruling of Roe V Wade just as much. Living that inconsistency will tear you up inside personally whether you realize it or not, and when you ask the country to do it, it tears it apart as well.
The biggest problem with the abortion debate is that we never ask the question that matters most.
When abortion was legalized, why did so many women choose to go through with the procedure? The current population of the United States is approximately 333 million. Since 1973, 64 million abortions have been performed. One in every six Americans that could be alive today is not.
That is not due to threats to the health of the mother, or incest, or rape. It is due to a drastic change in American culture that began with the Roe V Wade decision. Pregnancy used to be viewed as a divine miracle. The American dream used to be centered on raising a family. That is no longer the case. Now, all too often, pregnancy is viewed as an inconvenience that gets in the way of worldly ambition or a definition of freedom that emphasizes avoidance of responsibility for our actions. Pregnancy is seen as a problem to be solved, not a blessing to be embraced and cherished.
A few years ago, there was an argument being made that abortion should be legal, but rare. Last year, despite recent declines in overall numbers, there were still over one million abortions performed in the US. That is not rare. The question of whether or not abortion will remain legal is answered. It will in many states. The next question is, what can we do to help women make a different choice? What can we do to encourage women to once again see a child as a beautiful gift, a supreme blessing, and an inexplicable miracle? What can we do to help America remember how to embrace life as precious at every moment and in every instance?
As I said before, the loss of Amber was tragic and I am ready to work with you, across the aisle, to try and ensure that the next Amber gets the medical treatment she needs promptly, wherever she is located. We do not need to restore Roe V Wade to make this happen. It could happen almost overnight if the two parties decided to make it happen.
But we must accept and acknowledge that no matter how much we lament the loss of Amber, the loss of 64 million children before they ever had the chance to see the light of day dwarfs her case. In all honesty, this is a tragedy whose effects on the country are not understood because we never talk about them. You would have us believe that abortion is a private decision that does not affect the culture, but I would disagree. I believe the ramifications of unfettered abortion are widespread and deeply destructive.
A couple years ago, the Covid pandemic stopped the country in its tracks. Almost every day we hear arguments about global warming and the destructive effect it is having on the environment, and rightly so.
But we never hear the idea of an “abortion epidemic” discussed at all.
I think this is a mistake. I think we have experienced just that, an “abortion epidemic,” over the course of the last fifty years, and I think the country was deeply injured by it. I think the discussion on abortion needs to be completely recast. I think we need to start talking about the long-term effects that abortion has had on the well-being of the country.
Otherwise, we are surely ignoring one of the main causes of the division and distrust that is plaguing our country and our politics at this very contentious moment in our history.
OFS Ongoing 
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