The fundamental problem with the abortion debate is that both sides think they are motivated by the welfare of citizens, while their opponents are motivated by sexual politics.
Take the pro-life position.
Here we have people who believe that abortion is murder. That’s the argument they put forward, that’s the slogan they put on signs. Their basic position is this: a fetus is a human being, therefore killing that fetus is killing a human being. Therefore it’s wrong.
Now, let’s put aside the question of whether or not a fetus is a human. It’s a question that seems to have both scientific and ethical dimensions to it, so it’s rather tricky. But I’m not talking about whether they’re right or wrong. The fact is that the pro-choice lobby simply don’t believe that this is a sincerely held position.
An exchange between two commenters on a thread on conservative site PajamasMedia nicely encapsulates the prejudices of both sides. First came a comment from Mike W: (bold is mine)
The president is smart to ignore the pro-life movement, and should continue to ignore it, as he is intelligent enough to understand that it’s comprised primarily of totalitarian evangelical psychopaths whose ultimate goal is to control the sex lives of American citizens.
Because if conservative pro-life groups somehow are able to gain the influence necessary to usher in a new era of right-wing authoritarian judges that outlaw abortion, they will not stop there. They will continue their battle against free men and women to have a private sex life – by working to outlaw contraceptives of any kind.
Focus on the Family posts a kind of contraceptive warning label on its Web site: “Modern contraceptive inventions have given many an exaggerated sense of safety and prompted more people than ever before to move sexual expression outside the marriage boundary.”
This is why the “common ground” movement is such crap. Social conservatives don’t care about “life” they care about sex. In fact, they are the ones who are obsessed with it. And until they can establish social and legal sanctions against other people having unapproved sex, they will not stop.
In other words: you don’t mean it, you just want to stop us having sex.
Of course, this is just one person writing on one website, but I chose it because it seems to encapsulate the suspicions and fears of many who believe in choice. “They don’t believe it” the reasoning goes, “All this stuff about it being murder is a smokescreen.”
So much for good faith. But exactly the same problem exists in reverse: namely, the pro-life movement doesn’t believe the arguments of the pro-choice movement either. In a complete mirror image, they believe that the pro-choice movement is really about imposing sexual morality: the morality of sexual freedom.
Take Chileno’s response to the comment above:
Just another paranoid, hysterical left-wing fanatic who cares more about his own sexuality than the life of the unborn. How dare you justify murdering millions of babies in the name of “sexual freedom”?
In other words, “you dont mean it, you just want to have sex.”
Both sides suspect the other of being dishonest and disingenuous. Both believe the other (but not their side) is motivated by the politics of sex. Both believe that their side alone is motivated by caring about the welfare of human beings; In the case of pro-life, that means caring about the unborn; while in the case of pro-choice, that means caring about the welfare of pregnant women.
Until there is good faith in the debate, it will never be resolved.