The Democratic National Convention started yesterday and I’m sure it will be dissected and analyzed in a tsunami of media coverage, so I won’t add to the fray. I will, however, touch on an issue that is front and center in this year’s election and will be discussed multiple times during the weeklong convention. And that topic is abortion and the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
I have read a couple of different articles recently that have reported the number of abortions has actually increased since Roe v. Wade was overturned and Republican-controlled states began passing very restrictive abortion laws. I don’t know why this should surprise anyone. There is an analogous episode in recent American history which could have shown this to be the likely outcome.
Prohibition grew out of a decades long fight by various groups, primarily religious, who argued that the availability of alcohol was a prime contributor to poverty, immoral sexual behavior, and violence. The Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution prohibiting the sale, manufacturing and distribution of alcohol was ratified on January 16th, 2019. The subsequent Volstead Act set the date for prohibition to go into effect as January 17, 1920.
It is well documented that the Eighteenth Amendment and the Volstead Act failed miserably to stop the consumption of alcohol. Instead, it gave rise to criminal syndicates, the most famous being that associated with Al Capone, speakeasies, and bootleggers. Gambling and prostitution increased as did the murder rate. Prohibition was a complete and utter failure. The 21st Amendment to the Constitution repealing the failed morality experiment called Prohibition was ratified in 1933.
There are striking similarities between Prohibition and the current anti-abortion groups. They were both vocal, religion driven, minority groups pushing policies that were widely unpopular. And just like Prohibition did not stop the consumption of alcohol, so will these current restrictive abortion laws fail to stop abortions. Prohibition gave rise to bootleggers and speakeasies. Restrictive abortions laws will give rise to underground networks of abortion providers. The new Al Capones won’t be pushing liquor, they will be running illegal markets in mifepristone, the “abortion pill,” and they will be making tons of money selling both real and fake medication. Women with money will simply take an ‘abortion vacation’ to another country. It will be just another thing on the current menu of medical tourism options.
Anyone who believes these anti-abortion laws will stop abortions from happening, will not give rise to a new type of criminal enterprise, and will not result in increased deaths of women is deluding themselves. They should seriously read the history of Prohibition to understand that we have been down this road before. Banning alcohol failed. Banning marijuana failed. Banning smoking has made an impact but now vaping is taking its place! Banning abortions will fail and the country will suffer many unintended consequences as a result of these uninformed, draconian laws that are based upon some misguided morality rather than science and data.
If Trump is re-elected, despite what he says about letting states make the decision about their own abortion laws, he is so malleable that the anti-abortion lobby will have him signing a nationwide ban on abortions before his first year in office is over.
I have no doubt that, at some point in the future, access to abortion will be restored back to the way it was before the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, either through legislation or changes on the U.S. Supreme Court. It will follow the same exact path as Prohibition. The only question is how long it will take, and how much carnage will happen before the American people demand that access to abortion be restored. It took 13 years to repeal Prohibition. How long will it take this time to correct this egregious intrusion into people’s personal lives?
In his work, “The Life of Reason: Reason in Common Sense,” the American philosopher, Geroge Santayana said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” And yet here we are!!
