There's a fury on the right about the Trump administration's refusal to roll back Biden-era mail-order abortion-pill dispensing. The Biden change was supposed to be a COVID thing. Anyone who has ever paid any attention to life could have guaranteed you that was not the endgame, however. But this White House is all too happy to have wiped its hands of abortion, being able to claim the end of Roe v. Wade at the Supreme Court level as its right-wing trophy.
And fair enough. It was at pro-life gatherings that I heard The Donald being declared "the most pro-life president ever." Of course, the truth is more complicated. The head of the Federal Food and Drug Administration just resigned, and some groups hope that means a change in policy will come. But even if it does wind up that way, a court will intervene, and another administration will be elected. And it's not like this one is stable on principles. But while the frustration—anger even—is understandable, it is also indicative of the limits of politics.
While political and advocacy organizations issue letters and press releases and put money into particular campaigns — and against others — the rest of humankind goes about its business, hoping abortion doesn't touch them or their loved ones. Or doesn't again. Or doesn't reveal itself.
And the more abortion is in the news and the more abortion is seen, avoidance becomes trickier. The next time you walk into your local pharmacy to pick up your blood-pressure or thyroid medicine, you may very well be in line with a woman picking up her abortion pills. "No go!" you may be thinking. You live in Texas or Louisiana. Women can't have abortions in states like these. That's, of course, preposterous. People are ordering abortion pills like they might buy the latest kitchen gadget from Amazon.
And I say "people," not because I'm going to try to convince you men can get pregnant, but because we know that men are ordering pills and coercing abortions. Some of these stories become criminal matters, but we have no idea how many are happening. We don't even know how many chemical abortions are happening, period. Abortion numbers are infamously slow and inaccurate. Women are being encouraged to show up in an emergency room if they are having complications from chemical abortions, and lie. "Say you were given medication for a miscarriage," they are told. The abortion businesses don't want the danger tracking back to them.
So what do we do? We look young women and young men in the eyes way before they've ever had sex. We celebrate their birthdays and their unique gifts. That's not the stuff of gold-star self-esteem, but reverence for the gift of life. Each one of us is unique. As we mature, we tend to come to realize that there is nothing new under the sun — as painful and challenging as our crosses are, we are likely not alone in them. My mistakes? Sorry, Self, but you're not all that inventive. They've been made before. And yet, the creator of the universe wanted you and your successes, and me and my mistakes to exist in the world. It's not until we can appreciate that that we can figure out what to do with the widespread anonymous access to abortions.
Am I a Debby Downer? Perhaps. I'd like to think, too, of a reality check that keeps us from being so tripped up in the temporary fights that we miss the big picture of a flourishing life. A life each one of us is made for — if only given a chance to live.
(Kathryn Jean Lopez is senior fellow at the National Review Institute, editor-at-large of National Review magazine and author of the new book "A Year With the Mystics: Visionary Wisdom for Daily Living." She is also chair of Cardinal Dolans pro-life commission in New York and is on the board of the University of Mary. She can be contacted at klopez@nationalreview.com.)
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