Guest blogger–MSM reporter Todd Unctuous opines about last week’s March for Life.

This January once again is the anniversary of the famous Roe v. Wade decision of the Supreme Court to liberate women and give them a say over what happens to their own bodies. Unfortunately, some people continue to be opposed to this freedom of choice and are working to return to the old days when women were expected to be virtually enslaved by men–barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen. Happily, the number of women for whom this is a live issue seems to be dwindling. A friend of mine who writes for Newsweek magazine has pointed out that the usual protests on this issue are now dying out. The protestors are aging and mostly going through the steps without thinking. They stopped thinking about this complicated issue long ago. Perhaps at last the American people will step into the modern age and realize that women must not be forced to continue an unwanted pregnancy. It is, after all, their body and their life. Why should their life be destroyed just because they happen to be pregnant?

What has complicated the matter is that this simple issue of human rights has been turned into a hot button religious issue by a handful of religious extremists. I am not myself a religious man, but I do respect people who hold strong religious views like Actor Tom Cruise, Vice President Joe Biden and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. As devout Catholics all three uphold their faith’s core principles of individual freedom of conscience. They understand that black and white moral choices are impossible in the complicated modern world we live in today. They stand up for thinking Catholics everywhere as they bravely challenge their churches unthinking backward stance on condoms in Africa, birth control, liberation of women, global warming and freedom of choice. Decisions, I might add, that are taken by old, white men in a walled city cut off from the reality of everyday issues.

Nevertheless there are some who still want to make this a black and white issue and the fact that protestors on both sides of the question were out in force on Friday in our nation’s capitol is an illustration that strong feelings are held on both sides of this divisive issue. This was the day of the biggest anti abortion march of the year. A few anti-abortion protestors were there with their shocking and offensive photographs. Mostly white, working class, male, elderly and angry, they shook their fists in the faces of the peaceful, intelligent and young college women who stood in dignified silence to affirm their right to choose control over their own bodies.

We should remember that the same people who claim to be ‘pro life’ are not only the ones who want to keep women barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen, but they are the ones who shoot, maim, beat and kill innocent health care workers who assist women to make their perfectly legal choices. Fortunately we have a president who understands both sides of this divisive issue. He is the one who has stepped into the middle to offer a third way. He is absolutely correct to ask why a teenaged girl should be punished by having a child. Usually from the underclass and often racially challenged, these young women should be encouraged to terminate their pregnancies. I am one who goes even further and asks, “Why should the teenaged girl be permitted to continue the pregnancy when she will obviously be an unfit mother and a strain on society’s limited welfare budget?” Legislation should be in place to ensure that she does not complete that pregnancy, and if she does, then all welfare payments should be stopped. Girls like that need to be forced to exercise their choice.

Shouldn’t she be employed as a valuable contributor to society? I am thinking of an example from my local fast food emporium. Many of these women are employed by the McDonald’s corporation. It seems to me that they could find meaningful employment in the food retail industry, and that they seem most happy when providing food for the customers like myself who frequently go there for lunch.

Finally, the anti abortion crowd scream in their shrill voices that every abortion is the murder of an unborn child. When will they stop exaggerating? Everyone knows that the unborn child is simply a mass of cells in the mother’s body. Removing it is no different than removing a tumor or a wart or pulling a tooth. It may be painful, but people get over it. Furthermore, I am told that the aborted fetuses which are not human are proving to be very valuable resources for researcher who are doing human genetic and tissue replacement research.

No, the enlightened and modern pro choice decision is here to stay. Happily, the anti abortion campaigners are getting old and tired. Soon their voices, like the voices of southern confederates crying weakly, “The South Will Rise Again!” will soon fade away into the dying light as a new dawn rises of awareness and positive human choices. Only when women are free to terminate their pregnancies will the human race be able to prosper and grow.

Todd Unctuous is forty two. For more information on Todd go here.