When does life begin? The on going debate about Abortion throughout the United States

Bob Englehart’s 1981 political cartoon “When Does Life Begin?,” originally published by The Hartford Courant

 Abortion is a widely and extensively discussed topic throughout the US. With extreme views of it being murder and therefore should be illegal, to more moderate opinions that a woman should be able to make her own choice whether to keep her child or not. For many years morals and ethics have clashed with religious views, yet at times they have also supported them. However, beneath the controversy, do American citizens really feel strongly that abortion is morally wrong and should be deliberated this much? Behind all this eloquence perhaps it is just a political and religious argument that doesn’t affect the American public in any way. Bob Englehart’s 1981 political cartoon “When Does Life Begin?,” which was originally published by The Hartford Courant, depicts the different religious and political thinking of America. Showing three different members of American society, we can clearly see when each believes life begins.

The first figure in the cartoon is that of a Priest stating life begins “at the moment of conception”. This is a representation of the religious sector of the USA, yet this is not just Catholics like some may assume as they are just one among many religious groups, such as various strands of Protestants, who believe abortion should be stopped. The cartoon suggests that some Americans may therefore be more religiously influence than politically, with the belief that abortion is murder if it was carried out even though the baby is not born yet. However, there is no way of telling whether this is true and consequently this is only an opinion and abortion is still illegal as there are no laws stating otherwise. Republican party members are strongly against abortion, hence why most strongly Christian believers vote Republican where most support comes from the Southern states. Predominant Republican politician Sarah Palin caused great controversy when she stated she would oppose to abortion “even if my own daughter was raped’, which led Magali Sarfatti Larson to remark how she’s a “genuinely maverick right-wing feminism” and overall “That is why in the end, we call the Palin phenomenon a paradoxical one”.[1] With the Republican Party speaking of how “We oppose using public revenues for abortion and wont fund organizations which advocate it”, a political divide has been forming, yet whether the public feel the same way, including all Christians, is a different matter.[2]

The second figure shown by Englehart is a judge giving the opinion that life begins at birth. With laws and beliefs that state the fetus does not feel anything when an abortion takes place, it is not legally classed as a ‘living being’ until it is born. This then brings about the idea that the law itself in America believes at the moment abortion to be legal yet perhaps still morally wrong. The figure of the judge stresses that the act of abortion cannot be ruled as murder, and the battle against right and wrong is politically based rather than legal. With Republicans speaking out about how “We support the appointment of judges who respect traditional family values and the sanctity of innocent human life” it’s clear to see how the judicial system is also influenced by which party is in power.[3] However, the Supreme Court in acts such as Roe v. Wade rule that “until a fetus becomes viable, the interests of the state in the life is outweighed by the interest of the mother in choosing to terminate the pregnancy or not”, showing how it would not be easy to change the law on abortion.[4]

The third and final figure that Bob Englehart has drawn is of a ‘stereotypical’ American, carefree and eating pizza with the attitude life doesn’t begin until “you get your drivers license”.  By depicting an American citizen as so unperturbed, it shows how perhaps some of the public don’t really care about the issue of abortion as much as politicians and the media do, as they feel the issue will never fully be resolved with a happy ending for everyone. The thought that life doesn’t begin until you are more independent and able to do things on your own puts forward the reflection that as an individual you should be able to make your own decisions. With America showing itself to the world as an independent nation where individuals can make what they want of themselves, surely the individual should be able to make a decision about the direction their life will take, whether it seems wrong or right in another individuals eyes. Roger Rosenblatt states how he believes “Americans must and in fact are ready to live with abortion as an irreconcilable problem” showing how the issue may never be solved yet the public are fully aware of this.[5]

America as a nation will always be divided over abortion. Englehart portrays America to be in three minds about the subject when in fact there are many more opinions and beliefs. With America aware of the political divide, “the gap grows larger, deeper, and clearer and is likely to continue to do so”.[6] Yet political divide is not just over abortion, other issues cause controversy, and because of this ‘true’ American values today are not clear, leaving many grey areas in between. It is interesting how the religious are sometimes assumed just to be Catholic, perhaps due to high involvement in politics in some cases. The issue of abortion will keep being discussed until a compromise between ethics and free will comes to light.

Bibliography

• “2004 Republican Party Platform: A Safer World and a More Helpful America” pg. 84. http://www.gop.com/media/2004platform.pdf
• Magali Sarfatti Larson and Douglas Porpora, The Resistible Rise of Sarah Palin: Continuity and Paradox in the American Right Wing, Vol. 26, No. 4, (Springer 2001), pp. 754-778, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41330892
• Roger Rosenblatt Life itself: abortion in the American min” (Random House Inc, 1992) pg. 6
• “Ian Shapiro, Abortion (Third Edition): The Supreme Court Decisions, 1965-2007, (Hackett Pub Co 2007) pg. 64

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[1] Magali Sarfatti Larson and Douglas Porpora, The Resistible Rise of Sarah Palin: Continuity and Paradox in the American Right Wing, Vol. 26, No. 4, (Springer 2001), pp. 754-778, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41330892

[2] “2004 Republican Party Platform: A Safer World and a More Helpful America” pg. 84. http://www.gop.com/media/2004platform.pdf

[3] “2004 Republican Party Platform: A Safer World and a More Helpful America” pg. 84. http://www.gop.com/media/2004platform.pdf

[4] “Ian Shapiro, Abortion (Third Edition): The Supreme Court Decisions, 1965-2007, (Hackett Pub Co 2007) pg. 64

[5] Roger Rosenblatt Life itself: abortion in the American min” (Random House Inc., 1992) pg. 6

[6] Roger Rosenblatt Life itself: abortion in the American min” (Random House Inc., 1992) pg. 6