Hundreds of thousands of Americans turned out in Washington D.C. this weekend to voice their support for pro-choice practices and condemn the steps the Bush administration has taken to undermine a woman's right to choose.
The Bush administration has proudly stood with the Vatican and various totalitarian theocracies, voicing their disdain for abortion practices. They pulled funding from international aid efforts that provided abortions as part of their life saving practices. Recently, former Bush advisor Karen Hughes declared that supporting abortion rights is akin to supporting terrorists.
Abortion is a very sensitive issue because it involves a spiritual debate as to when life begins. For over 30 years, the American government has joined every single other modern nation in providing for legal and safe procedures when the situation arises.
Some members of the Catholic Church are leading a fight against Catholic politicians who do not follow religious doctrine to the letter. Their attacks are focused solely on Democrats who favor abortion rights, ignoring several other pro-choice Republicans. Also, their attacks somehow ignore the scores of other Catholic positions that are ignored by Catholic politicians, such as the death penalty and even the war in Iraq. The issue is one of a woman's choice and should not be decided by the church or the state.
With the possibility of at least one Supreme Court Justice retiring in the next four years, the 2004 election will be a decisive battle for the future of abortion rights. America can take several steps back and join the repressive regimes in taking away rights for women, or it can continue its progressive path of respecting the rights of women.
