Welfare of the Whole
I'm struggling with Texas' new abortion laws just as I'm uncomfortable with Vaccine mandates. I've always understood the world isn't perfect, but stupid? I'm not an anti-vaccine kind of guy. Growing up traveling the world, my life was full of jabs in the ass and arm, I also understood being vaccinated to attend school. When it comes to abortion, I'm prolife but it's not my place to judge a woman's choice. You're probably thinking that's nuts. On one hand, I'm pro vaccine and the other anti-abortion, when both are intrusions into personal choice. Well, it might be I am friggin' nuts.
One could claim one is not like the other, but the foundational arguments opposing both are the same, being an infringement on the rights of citizens to make their own choices in regards to their physical well being. While opposing arguments can be whittled down to citizens rights, one could argue that getting an abortion is vastly different then getting a vaccine, and that alone changes the arguments on a persons rights. Meaning that's one's one right to choice is dependent on what their choice is in regards to. Life is like that, full of undefined gray areas.
In a perfect world, we all would make reasonable choices based on research and fact. In a perfect world, research and fact would be provided by Government, backed up with medical data. Those that were uncomfortable with that information would research on their own, and make their own choice. In this perfect world, the latter would be a small, but acceptable percentage. The Polio vaccine is an example, among several.
Those days are long gone. I will guess, that if the internet was around back in the day, there might have been a lot of opposition to the Polio vaccine. Is that so hard to believe? Am I blaming the internet? No, the web is a tool. It can be a fine scalpel to dissect research in an attempt to understand provided data or a five pound sledge to destroy what's been offered to provide facts. The average citizen when determining their choice then needs to interpret what they themselves are studying and come to a conclusion. A process available to most, but simple not practiced. Why? because too many people seek out facts to support their personal choices in life.
Abortion or vaccinations, it doesn't matter, you will find a valid argument to support your belief.
Vaccinations have to do with public safety. Bottom line. People can argue conspiracies about chips hidden in the vaccine, the reality behind a crisis requiring a vaccine, or the effectiveness of the vaccine. Abortion is all about the antithesis of safety, forcing a woman to carry to term a pregnancy fraught with medical problems, forcing a woman to seek an abortion in back ally's, forcing a woman to raise a child that's a result of being raped, all under the guise of morality. One is thought of as a collective safety net, the other assails a woman's individual safety net.
While uncomfortable with any government mandate affecting my personal choice, vaccinations makes sense for health care workers. My wife is a nurse, and there are co-workers who are threatening to quit if mandated. That is their choice. There are strong opinions on both sides. What Texas is doing with abortion offers no choice, or acceptable alternatives. It is black or white, there is no gray area.
There are, as there should be in given debate, pros and cons to any issue, and there is in mandating vaccines. There is none when it comes to abortion in Texas.
Uncomfortable as I am with mandating vaccines, I hesitatingly accept it. If it happens that my body starts attracting paper clips, or the Government starts controlling my actions, that would change. I can't imagine an valid argument that would change my view on abortion in general, and specifically in Texas.
www.robpaxton.me