••• The International Writers Magazine: Reality Check + Readers Responses

The Great Republican Lie on Abortion • James Campion This week Republican presidential front-runner, Donald Trump, in his usual wing-it fashion, told an MSNBC audience that if abortion was illegal than the woman getting the abortion is committing a crime and therefore should stand trial for said crime. This caused the predictable outcry from pro-choice advocates and Democrats, but unconscionably, it also drew the ire of conservative Republicans. This makes no sense and someone should point this out.

Pro-Life advocates conveniently want it both ways; they continue to woo the woman vote while also stating that abortion is murder and should be deemed such. Who exactly then is the murderer? The doctor? Does the doctor enter the woman’s room late at night and yank the fetus from her or does the woman make a difficult choice to terminate the pregnancy, then, in their ideological view, walk willingly and knowingly into the clinic and murder the fetus?

This is why I state emphatically that if I were a woman in no way, shape or form would I ever support a major political party that stands by the concept of allowing the government to manipulate my insides. Ever. Whatever side you fall on in this very difficult issue, you cannot support the government deciding what happens inside the body of a tax-paying citizen protected by the Bill of Rights. It is not only unconstitutional, it is insane. It leads to a world in which if there is over-population, then the government can decide who lives and who dies and could one day force women with “too many children” to get abortions.

But if you strongly believe that it is the right and moral foundation for the United States government to protect innocents – unless innocents happen to be gay, undocumented, the elderly with no money, or the random black kid gunned down by rogue cops; then fuck them – it stands to reason you deem abortion murder, and therefore that murder must have a perpetrator. Conservative phonies like Ted Cruz, who is now fully immersed in the establishment, despite his charade of stating he is anti-establishment whilst asking the party to coalesce behind him to stop the actual anti-establishment candidate, like to tell us that in this weirdly constructed reality, the woman is the victim of this “crime”.

Really?

Then why do we put drug offenders in jail or bust drunk drivers? They are merely victims of the terrible drug dealers and liquor stores and bars who serve them dope and libations. When someone hits you with their car, do they seek out the manufacturer? Is Ford responsible for the guy who hits you? So, I ask; in what crazed dystopian nightmare does a woman who gets an abortion somehow translate to victim?

I guess Ted Cruz is a bleeding heart liberal who believes somehow that society, the prison system, and the Beatles were guilty of ritualistic murder, and not poor, victimized Charles Manson.

If abortion is murder, then the woman should go to jail. Trump is correct and has continued to be the gift that keeps giving for the free thinkers among us who believe that the abject lies the Republican Party has been selling for decades about military build-ups and asinine wars, Wall Street, free-trade unregulated nonsense, and haughty attacks on social issues are stupid and antiquated and have become sad, fringe positions that have no place in an advancing world.

But that is politics, and we are not dealing with politics today, just like we are not dealing in morals here, ever; we are merely dealing with personal liberty and the law, which rightly gives a tax-paying citizen protected by the Bill of Rights control over her body. However, if that law should change, and abortion becomes illegal; then you explain to me how a woman who seeks an abortion does not break the law? And if you break the law, should you not pay for your crime? And if that crime is murder, then should you not be sentenced to life imprisonment, and in some states, face execution?

I believe Trump when he repeatedly says, “You either have a country or you don’t.”

So, where does this dribbling nonsense of staunchly defending the unborn while simultaneously absolving the woman killing this child come from?

Now, the cynic in me understands the campaign landscape of shock and dismay is wholly motivated by a #nevertrump effort. Trump, like Obama, could espouse the entire GOP platform and someone on the right will get in a tizzy and blame them for pissing on God’s head. This is about taking Trump down, while simultaneously keeping the false notion of deeming abortion a crime against humanity while somehow absolving the architect, so women will vote Republican in the fall. Period.

The main discussion about abortion really comes down to the idea that you must accept that you are indeed terminating a life when you have one. As a supporter of pro-choice, I also get tough with those who support same when they deny that this is not the case, that somehow this glob of tissue is not life or to make things cushy, some sub-life or pre-form of life. Technology and advanced science now prove with no doubt that life is being terminated. Whether this constitutes murder, as it is described in the annals of civilization or our current structure of law, is another argument I shall not make here. But I have been asking my pro-life friends now for decades; how exactly do you accept the premise that the government has a right to adjudicate what is inside a citizen’s body? The government has no right to burst into your apartment and begin rummaging around, but your body is open season?

And how do you police this matter?

Donald Trump says you arrest the murderer, and he is right.
But that is shocking to us, because we cannot imagine someone being arrested for such a thing. So, in abject panic that we can now see their draconian oligarchy correctly, the right-wing moral loons scramble to tell you Trump is nuts. Well, of course he’s nuts, but so is the notion that the government can arrest a woman for this. So, they make up some wild story about the woman merely being a victim.

Poor, unknowing, weak, and distressed female, whose only purpose is to plunk out babies on demand; you will not be held responsible for the thing you just did. But, of course, you will, and you should, and if you don’t think that is coming if Roe v Wade is overturned, which the Republican Party wants – including Ted Cruz and John Kasich, no matter how much they try and distance themselves from it – then you are not listening to the pro-life movement. This is what they want; to make abortion illegal, which means if you happen to have a vagina; it is time to watch your step.

If the premise introduced to Donald Trump on MSNBC this week is correct, and one day we are faced with abortion being illegal, than women will need to stand trial for murder.
Any other conclusion to this is a lie.

© James Campion April 1st 2016
realitycheck@jamescampion.com

READERS RESPONSES April 8th
Editor’s Note: It’s been awhile since we have given voice to the faithful in this space – so we go back to when all of this presidential craziness started...

Wow, I'm really disappointed in you Mr. Campion. (WHY DONALD TRUMP MUST BE THE REPUBLICAN NOMINEE – Issue: 1/27/15) Giving up and voluntarily voting for a sociopath, billionaire, 12 year-old bully, pathological liar, fascist whose only motivation is feeding his ego and amusing himself, is not the answer. I'm all for grenades but you are going to defeat the 1% by voting for one? I much prefer the Bernie grenade for so many reasons. Come on, Jim, drink the Bernie Koolaid!! Bern Baby Bern!
And if all fails and Sanders doesn't get the nomination, I'd still rather vote for Clinton than a Hitler Clown that represents everything that I despise. I'd prefer to wait a little bit on the "completely giving up on humanity ploy". I mean we'll get there soon enough either way, what's the rush? Truthfully I fear it really doesn't matter what we do, the 1% runs this world and I can't really see them letting anyone do anything that resembles real change but no matter how much I want change I'm not willing to sell my soul and vote for hate, fear and pure evil. As a good friend of mine once said "I WEEP FOR THIS WORLD".

Bo Blaze


Well done sir. You captured the essence of Mr. Trump’s support. Please allow me to add on to your thoughts. As a conservative who is fully in support of Mr. Trump, I can tell you this vote is ALL about taking down Reince Priebus and his RNC buddies. We are going to show them what happens when you take the conservative base for granted. We are in full on revolt and are saying “No More Dole McRomney’s”. No more milquetoast RINO’s who thump their “conservative” chests during campaign season only to become Barrys Little Lambs in Congress.
Trump is speaking what many of us feel and we believe him. Are we silly to do so? Maybe but no worse than thinking the Grand RINO McCain was a conservative. Well, never the less, this is a problem of the RNC’s making and soon we will teach them who is REALLY in charge.

Peace,

Bill Roberts


Mr., Campion, Sir, with respect … the TEA Party was never, for a second, “grassroots”; from the very first it was financed by the Koch Brothers, as has been fairly amply demonstrated, though, yes, these wingnuts were mostly co-opted by the Repubs.
I would also like to suggest that Trump does *not* defy the argument that these types of candidates are mostly the result of redistricting and gerrymandering; as “national” as he may seem, he loses to both Hillary and Sanders in polls—losing even bigger to Sanders than to Hillary. As a Rolling Stone headline put it, “Trump Would Get Schlonged by Sanders.”
I must also protest the accusation leveled against Sanders, which has no basis in reality, that he “espouses a failed, government-controlled, economic restructuring of wealth based on this illusion of fairness.” He does espouse something like that, but it has hardly failed—when was it tried in this country? And it seems a bit unkind to call it an “illusion of fairness” when US companies stash tens of billions of dollars in offshore accounts (thanks to tax loopholes), and huge corporations play with investments like monopoly money because they KNOW they can’t lose (they’ll be bailed out AND execs will get their bonuses), and the oil companies are being given subsidies—subsidies! for oil!—and we now have a report (see CNN money, Oxfam study) that shows that the world’s richest 62 people have as much wealth as FULLY half of the world’s population. 62 people own as much as 3.6 billion. Surely that’s not mere chance—or 3 billion lazy people. More importantly, this was NOT the case only 40 years ago in this country. See any major economist on this. In the US things began to change drastically in about 1979, and we have all been duped into thinking it’s okay—that, in fact, this is HOW things are supposed to be. The game is rigged, old friend—as someone whose middle name is jaded, I know you know that—but to think there’s nothing we can we do about it is a mistake. As Ursula K. Le Guin has said, “Any human power can be resisted by human beings.”

Respectfully, long-time reader,

Vince Czyz


Yes! Yes! (EXPLAINING BERNIE SANDERS – Issue 2/10/15) This is what great political writing is all about! Bernie is the result of a failed system and it is a vote against what has been a falsely accused socialist agenda by the Obama administration that has support Wall Street and free trade and continues to ignore the problems at his base.
Bernie may not win, but he will scare the establishment of both parties, he will bring to light the inequities in this process and the system. It is way overdue for someone like him and for a voice to those of us who have been told that a progressive agenda is being put forth, but it is one with no teeth. Just look at the Heritage Foundation/Newt Gingrich Affordable Care Act – it is a right wing version of what should have been single-payer and we were screwed and now the insurance companies run this thing.
Enough is enough.

Sarah Burgess


I just hope that what comes out of this is an all around better educated electorate (read: college students) that understands the true violent history of socialism in the world. Having been a liberal college student myself, I lived the youthful need to rile things up, to rebel, to protest, etc. etc. etc. Once I started working and paying taxes (no artist I) all that liberal bull crap came to an end. Or at least the progressive ideas of free this and free that. Bullshit! Nothing in life is free. Period.
Living in NYC in the 80s and early 90s, I saw first hand just what giving things for free does to people, saw too many people willing to let others do the hard work for them. In sum, we cannot afford liberalism/socialism and survive. It totally denies human nature, which capitalism is the only thing that totally embraces. No one I know was raised believing that everything in life is “fair” or should be – where the heck did that come from anyway??
The good news is that ALL people equally have the opportunity in this country, regardless of their circumstances, to succeed. It’s up to the individual, not the government, to make that happen. This is what the whole Constitution is based on. Bernie Sanders is the scariest candidate in my opinion because he sending the wrong message.
Life is not fair. Deal with it. Become a strong person and make your life what you want it to be. Don’t be afraid of obstacles or what other people say you can and cannot do. But if he’s shaking things up for the democrats and causing them to re-think their message, especially Hilary, well then good. As long as a republican takes back the White House! I’ll take any of those candidates over Bernie or Hilary, any day. That being said, I’m with you: cannot take this stuff so fervently. Nonetheless, the whole thing makes me uneasy.

Elizabeth Vengen, Esq.

Signed up from jamescampion.com
Do yourself no favors and “like” this idiot at www.facebook.com/jc.author

James Campion is the author of “Deep Tank Jersey”, “Fear No Art”, “Trailing Jesus”, "Midnight For Cinderella" and “Y”. His new book, “Shout It Out Loud – The Story of KISS’s Destroyer and the Making of an American Icon” is out now

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