The future of Roe v. Wade is in the news. The uncertainty of that remaining law is supposedly hanging by a thread with President Trump’s Supreme Court appointee Judge Brett Kavanaugh. It is deserving of concern because abortion is something Republicans campaign on every time they run for office. Abortion is the number one issue alphabetically speaking. But what if the promise and campaign to outlaw abortion is all a big hoax? As a staunch anti-conspiracy activist I’m going to demonstrate how easy it is to come up with a master plan conspiracy theory. And it might be a convincing one to some. This will be a game I call "Invent a Conspiracy Theory", where one of us comes up with a far fetched conspiracy theory and the readers try to find holes or problems with it. The author of the invented conspiracy theory (in this case me) makes it clear that he or she doesn't actually believe in it. It will be sort of like a model UN debate. Someone in a model UN debate represents a country and takes the country's position on an issue and defends it. Even if they wholeheartedly disagree with it. (I was Iran when I did it in college) Lets get started.
Now what do I mean when I say the promise and campaign to outlaw abortion is a hoax? I mean exactly that. Republican leaders don’t intend on banning abortion and never will. It’s the hope that someday abortion will be banned that they thrive on. There have been hundreds of times Republicans when they held complete power after Roe v. Wade that they could’ve banned abortion. And they could’ve done it multiple ways.
One way could’ve been by appointing more judges to the Supreme Court until they get their majority. Roe v. Wade had its vote 7 to 2. The president (at the time) would simply need to appoint 6 or more judges making the vote 8 to 7 against abortion. This tactic is known as court packing. President Franklin D Roosevelt attempted to do did this in order to push his economic agenda through during his presidency but failed.
The other way of overturning the Supreme Court would be through a constitutional amendment banning abortion. That’s also something they had an opportunity to take but didn’t.
Even the Republican led Supreme Court has had opportunities to hear cases that would overturn abortion. But they refuse to hear the cases. Yes the Supreme Court can refuse to hear cases. This results in the highest court's ruling to remain law.
There are without a doubt Republicans that do believe abortion should be banned and believe there should be penalties from fines, to jail time, to the death penalty. Sometimes they say the punishment should be on the woman, sometimes on the doctor, sometimes for both. But the economic elite and business tycoons is that fund the Republican Party have never allowed those folks to come to power to actually change the law.
How many Republican presidents have come out publicly saying what they think the penalty should be for abortion with exception to Trump? Trump was evasive on that question of penalty when asked by Chris Matthews but did say there should be some form of punishment but wouldn’t say what. Republicans will say publicly whether or not they support the death penalty, but will not say whether or not they believe abortion is a capital offense.
Now it begs the question that despite ample opportunity to ban abortion but never doing it, what is their campaign about? It’s the hope of voters to someday ban abortion and nothing more. It’s that constituency that the GOP depends on for their votes. If abortion was banned tomorrow, where would the votes go? They would be gone. A voter's life mission would be fulfilled. Abortion is an issue that got a lot of Christians involved in politics. With the ban, the GOP's voting bloc would disappear.
Politically public opinion is not on their side for an abortion ban. Today more than ever support for abortion to remain legal is at an all time high across party lines. No political strategist thinks or says out loud their goal is to ban abortion.
Being against abortion in politics today is merely a personal value and not an agenda. When someone asks a GOP politician their stance on abortion, the most common response is "I'm pro life", and not "I think abortion should be illegal" or "I will ban abortion if elected". They are just expressing their personal beliefs about it, which is an obvious dodge for what their policy agenda is or isn't. But when they do say they would commit to actions that would outlaw abortion, again they never go through wit it.
When I was in college studying political science, my professor told our class during the 2012 Presidential Election that abortion would never be banned in this country, Why? Because it’s so sewed into the fabric of American society that the impact of overturning it would be catastrophic. That brings us indeed to what that catastrophic impact on society would be. Its a simple question. What are the results of unintended pregnancies that are carried to terms? You see more child neglect, crime, less stable households, psychological issues for women, and likelihood for the children to drop out of high school. The impact is short term and long term. And how many countries that have banned abortion are thriving?
Now to the more darker aspect of why the GOP will not ban abortion. It prevents the birth of future Democratic voters. Abortion is most practiced on the poor and minorities. Those are the demographic groups some say the GOP tries to prevent from voting with voter ID laws. (Writer's note- I DO NOT BELIEVE THIS AT ALL. This is just part of my Invented Conspiracy Theory. Continue reading till the end)
Now all this sounds like it could have been featured in a episode of the TV series Scandal. Imagine an episode and scene where a hopeful pro life activist is in the oval office with President Fitzgerald (Republican) and his political strategist Cyrus. The activist is bombarding Cyrus and pressuring him to reveal the plan to outlaw abortion. A frustrated Cyrus turns to the pro life activist and reveals the truth that there has never been a plan to ban abortion, just to keep the false hope alive. Cyrus goes on a long tirade going over all the points I made in this article.
I conclude with me saying again that I don't stand by anything in this Invent a Conspiracy Theory article I came up with. Especially the part about Republicans wanting to prevent the birth of of future Democrats through abortion. The purpose of this was to demonstrate how easy it is to create a conspiracy theory that relies heavily on the burden of proof fallacy. I make a lot of claims that can't be disproved but that doesn't mean that they're true. Especially the darker conspiracy claims some believe in. You probably can't disprove 9/11 truther claims that someone in the government allowed the 9/11 terrorists attacks to happen on purpose. Again there's the burden of proof fallacy. I encourage others to #InventAConspiracyTheory and have these model UN type of debates with debunkers. It will be fun and engaging.
