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My Point of View by Jennifer Vogt-Erickson

 

The mask has slipped on the pro-life agenda.

Republican leaders and TV personalities have been pushing to prematurely end stay-at-home orders that are slowing the spread of COVID-19 and protecting the lives of thousands of people. Meanwhile, over 30,000 people have died of coronavirus since my last column just two weeks ago. Thankfully, Minnesota has not been as hard hit as some states, but it is worrisome to see Freeborn County steadily rising to 33 confirmed cases early this week with at least two requiring ICU beds.

Republican Congressmen Andy Biggs and Ken Buck said in a Washington Examiner op-ed earlier this month, “I don’t know anybody that wants to be the person who says, ‘33,000 deaths is okay, but 100,000 is not acceptable.’ But that’s what officials are elected to do.”

Lieutenant governor of Texas, Dan Patrick, said on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News program last month, “Those of us who are 70-plus, we’ll take care of ourselves. But don’t sacrifice the country.”

During an appearance on Sean Hannity’s Fox News program last week, Dr. Mehmet Oz said, “I tell you, schools are a very appetizing opportunity. I just saw a nice piece in The Lancet arguing that the opening of schools may only cost us 2 to 3 percent in terms of total mortality.” (He later apologized for the remark.)

Good grief, does this sound pro-life?

No, it doesn’t, and that’s not an accident. The Republican pro-life position has always been a front for money and power. The desired outcome of the pro-life movement is to control poor women and maintain a permanent underclass for capitalist exploitation. (Women who have money will always have reproductive options, and they will exercise them as they see fit.)

Pro-life is a misnomer, but it is anti-choice. Let’s face it, the 40% of American adults who, even before this crisis, did not have an extra $400 to spare for an emergency, do not have many real choices. Building strength and resilience in the population is not a goal of this ideology. The pro-life label is just a feel-good facade for supporting extractive, winner-take-all capitalism.

Here is what a true pro-life position looks like: Support for healthy and affordable food, safe and affordable housing, universal health care, high quality, free child care and education, living wages and clean air and water.

These are all issues that Democrats work hardest for, and they do it while fighting obstruction from Republicans, who have abandoned even the middle class at the behest of their deep-pocketed donors who are looking for “appetizing opportunities.”

Let’s be frank. If you truly care about nurturing life and helping every human develop to their full potential, there is only one major party to support. If you want to shove the arm of the state into poor women’s uteruses, deprive them of essential resources they need to successfully raise a child and then blame any deficient outcomes on their personal failings, you can vote for the rival party.

So, COVID-19 has made the Republican agenda as clear as ever. The GOP represents capitalism without conscience, and the pro-life party is morally bankrupt. The only way to change it is if people stop voting for Republicans until the party gets this message: Voters will not accept an economy that works for only a sliver of the population and a government that gives big players a pillowy safety net while leaving many small businesses and individuals in despair of how to make their next rent or mortgage payments.

In rural America, we hadn’t yet recovered from the mortgage crisis when the new coronavirus struck. Unemployment claims jumped immediately, including over 1,750 in Freeborn County. Rural areas and main streets will be the hardest hit again. This is a policy choice, an unnatural disaster. Democrats are fighting for smaller players, the ones not invited to the table, and that includes most of us.

Dear reader, you can’t help Democrats fight for you if you don’t vote for them. If you are truly a pro-life voter, please vote for Democrats this fall.

Trump’s war against scientists and experts, the people who give us stability and hope instead of a mad-cap roller coaster ride, has now extended to Dr. Fauci. Trump even retweeted a tweet with the #FireFauci tag, and Fauci is receiving beefed up personal security due to threats.

Dr. Fauci, who has been saving American lives en masse for decades, provides this inherently “pro-life” advice: The virus sets the timeline.

Jennifer Vogt-Erickson is a member of the Freeborn County DFL Party.