What do abortions have to do with immigration?
Below is a disturbing story as reported by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
State Politics & Policy | Legalization of Abortion Contributing Factor in Undocumented Immigration to U.S., Report Says
[Nov 15, 2006]
Abortion procedures have caused a decrease in the number of U.S. residents, leading to a shortage of workers in the country and an increase in immigration of undocumented immigrants, according to report drafted by the Missouri Special Committee on Immigration Reform and submitted last week to state House Majority Leader Rod Jetton (R), the AP/MyFox St. Louis reports. The report was dated Oct. 24 and signed by all 10 Republicans on the committee, but it was not signed by any of the six Democrats on the panel. It says that the "lack of traditional work ethic, combined with the effects of 30 years of abortion and expanding liberal social welfare policies have produced a shortage of workers and a lack of incentive for those who can work." The report estimates there are 80,000 fewer Missouri residents because of abortion and that many of those residents now would be in a "highly productive age group for workers." Democrats on the committee said text regarding abortion was neither discussed nor agreed to be included in the report. Committee chair state Rep. Ed Emery (R), who opposes abortion, said the committee heard some testimony about abortion during one of its hearings, adding, "I felt like [it] was significant enough and fundamental enough that it warranted addressing it in the report." Emery on Monday also said, "We heard a lot of arguments today that the reason that we can't get serious about our borders is that we are desperate for all these workers," adding, "You don't have to think too long. If you kill 44 million of your potential workers, it's not too surprising we would be desperate for workers." State Rep. Trent Skaggs (D) said the abortion assertions discredit the entire report, adding, "There's a lot of editorial comment there that I couldn't really stomach."
It goes on, but I will cut it short by a bit. I have to second Trent Skaggs and say that there is a lot here that I could not stomach. I have never seen such a ridiculous linkage of issues as abortion and immigration. I am being dead serious, I just took pause from my writing to make sure that I was not using hyperbole. I sometimes worry that I overuse hyperbole thus rendering it an ineffective tool when in my hands. But, it is in fact the most ridiculous linkage of issues I have encountered to date. There, I said it twice.
Immigration inspired by unbridled domestic abortion. That takes the issue of abortion so far away from women's right to self-determination and twists the matter to shed some pretty scary light on the issue for me. I have often naively wondered what real and true investment pro-lifers have in the fate of the fetuses inside of bodies of women they do not know. The explanation of moral outrage alone always left me feeling that I was not getting the full story. I mean, pro-lifers are frequently pro-death penalty, a contradiction that is so alarming it feels like a cliche. This proclaimed reverence for life is clearly not very deeply felt.
Perhaps everyone else already knows this, and I am a little slow on the uptake. Are pro-life politicians actually simply trying to ensure a growing labor force? That is sick. Sick, sick, sick. That makes the fight against immigration even more unsavory. I mean, it seems obvious to me that anti-immigration policy is driven in large part by racism. But, I thought it was at least partially related to concerns about limited resources for the people that already live in this country, (namely health care.) But, if they want the population to grow and grow does it honestly matter to 'them' whether the underpaid and exploited work force in this country came out of the wombs of poor americans or across the border?
There is something very creepy about the idea of linking reproductive decisions and the future of industry. We are not drones, there is a real person attached to that womb.
It doesn't take much reading between the lines to extract the message: do your duty patriotic American women, bear the future generation of exploited workers.
Below is a disturbing story as reported by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
State Politics & Policy | Legalization of Abortion Contributing Factor in Undocumented Immigration to U.S., Report Says
[Nov 15, 2006]
Abortion procedures have caused a decrease in the number of U.S. residents, leading to a shortage of workers in the country and an increase in immigration of undocumented immigrants, according to report drafted by the Missouri Special Committee on Immigration Reform and submitted last week to state House Majority Leader Rod Jetton (R), the AP/MyFox St. Louis reports. The report was dated Oct. 24 and signed by all 10 Republicans on the committee, but it was not signed by any of the six Democrats on the panel. It says that the "lack of traditional work ethic, combined with the effects of 30 years of abortion and expanding liberal social welfare policies have produced a shortage of workers and a lack of incentive for those who can work." The report estimates there are 80,000 fewer Missouri residents because of abortion and that many of those residents now would be in a "highly productive age group for workers." Democrats on the committee said text regarding abortion was neither discussed nor agreed to be included in the report. Committee chair state Rep. Ed Emery (R), who opposes abortion, said the committee heard some testimony about abortion during one of its hearings, adding, "I felt like [it] was significant enough and fundamental enough that it warranted addressing it in the report." Emery on Monday also said, "We heard a lot of arguments today that the reason that we can't get serious about our borders is that we are desperate for all these workers," adding, "You don't have to think too long. If you kill 44 million of your potential workers, it's not too surprising we would be desperate for workers." State Rep. Trent Skaggs (D) said the abortion assertions discredit the entire report, adding, "There's a lot of editorial comment there that I couldn't really stomach."
It goes on, but I will cut it short by a bit. I have to second Trent Skaggs and say that there is a lot here that I could not stomach. I have never seen such a ridiculous linkage of issues as abortion and immigration. I am being dead serious, I just took pause from my writing to make sure that I was not using hyperbole. I sometimes worry that I overuse hyperbole thus rendering it an ineffective tool when in my hands. But, it is in fact the most ridiculous linkage of issues I have encountered to date. There, I said it twice.
Immigration inspired by unbridled domestic abortion. That takes the issue of abortion so far away from women's right to self-determination and twists the matter to shed some pretty scary light on the issue for me. I have often naively wondered what real and true investment pro-lifers have in the fate of the fetuses inside of bodies of women they do not know. The explanation of moral outrage alone always left me feeling that I was not getting the full story. I mean, pro-lifers are frequently pro-death penalty, a contradiction that is so alarming it feels like a cliche. This proclaimed reverence for life is clearly not very deeply felt.
Perhaps everyone else already knows this, and I am a little slow on the uptake. Are pro-life politicians actually simply trying to ensure a growing labor force? That is sick. Sick, sick, sick. That makes the fight against immigration even more unsavory. I mean, it seems obvious to me that anti-immigration policy is driven in large part by racism. But, I thought it was at least partially related to concerns about limited resources for the people that already live in this country, (namely health care.) But, if they want the population to grow and grow does it honestly matter to 'them' whether the underpaid and exploited work force in this country came out of the wombs of poor americans or across the border?
There is something very creepy about the idea of linking reproductive decisions and the future of industry. We are not drones, there is a real person attached to that womb.
It doesn't take much reading between the lines to extract the message: do your duty patriotic American women, bear the future generation of exploited workers.
posted by christy at 3:02 PM
1 Comments:
This commentary is really quite amazing christy. i always new how brilliant you are but this drives it home. I feel like i wanna see this report and the expose of the logical offensiveness of these conservative lawmakers reposted or printed.
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