Ask Auntie Pinko
September 5, 2002

Dear Readers,

I will begin with an apology. It is not very polite to "set people up" to intentionally provoke them. Sometimes Auntie Pinko's scientific curiosity about human nature leads me, perhaps, a little too far. And I do sincerely and humbly apologize to anyone who was offended by the tricky nature of last week's response to Francesca on the abortion issue, and I apologize in advance to those who will almost certainly be offended by this week's apology, and by the ulterior motives that have permeated this entire exercise.

But then, that's the nature of the issue, isn't it? And that is an illustration of exactly what I suspected when I penned my response to Francesca's question on the abortion issue. And while I am certain that a great many of my readers did, actually read my honest views on abortion with critical attention and draw reasonably accurate conclusions from them, I was somewhat taken aback by the quantity and venom of those who missed the point.

Back to those ulterior motives.

In addition to being quite honest about my own and very personal views on abortion, I hereby publicly admit that I did want to see if I could demonstrate a point I have been trying to make to all concerned with the abortion issue for many, many years:

That when we allow our own myopic passions to blind us to the ability to listen (read) carefully and evaluate critically the views of others, we can often be misled into making erroneous assumptions about what they really believe.

And by perpetuating those erroneous assumptions, we move further from, rather than closer to, solutions to critical and divisive issues. Issues, like abortion, that damage the ability of a civil society to achieve common goals and provide for everyone's well being.

Let me recap Auntie Pinko's views again, with some of the perhaps deceptive emotional content and expression removed:

1. I sincerely believe abortion is a great human tragedy. I would never have one-it would leave me with a permanent, inescapable sense of moral wrong.

2. The most effective way to eliminate abortion is to establish utopian social conditions that make abortion unnecessary.

3. Any other methods of eliminating abortion will a) be ineffective; and b) will add to, not subtract from, the sum total tragic concomitants of the human reproductive process.

4. I will continually work to bring about the social conditions that would render abortion unnecessary because it is the only effective way to act upon my personal belief that abortion is wrong.

5. Because I am dedicated to bringing about these social conditions, I participate actively in the political process by embracing a broad spectrum of issues that will move us toward establishing them, even when that means I don't agree with fellow-Democrats on all issues.

Go ahead, dear readers. Follow this link and re-read my response to Francesca last week:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/auntie/02/65.html

Nowhere will you find Auntie Pinko advocating futile and draconian legal sanctions against the performance of this abhorrent procedure. (Indeed, and I quote, "Auntie Pinko is old enough to remember before Roe v. Wade, when abortion was "illegal," and the tragedy of developing lives aborted was compounded by the tragedy of women dying in septic back-alley facilities or bleeding to death from self-induced abortions.")

Now, more than one alert reader did actually get as far as realizing that the four conditions I outlined - the ones that, if established, would render abortion unnecessary-are, indeed, utopian, and not remotely achievable in this imperfect world.

However, none of the readers who were so kind (or so shrilly infuriated) as to respond directly to me on this issue proceeded to the corollary conclusion I hinted at in the paragraph I quoted above - the one where I point out that until those conditions obtain, "legal" or "illegal," abortion will continue.

And no one who responded to me carried this chain of reasoning (which Auntie Pinko thought - perhaps erroneously - should be sufficiently obvious to a reader attempting rational analysis) to its logical conclusion:

Faced with two alternative and admittedly ineffective methods of working to eliminate abortion:

A) Working to bring about utopian social conditions that will render it unnecessary; or

B) Imposing draconian legal sanctions against it;

Which of these two admittedly ineffective methods is a better choice?

Auntie Pinko has to confess that, while it is often discouraging to contemplate the amount of effort expended toward an unachievable goal, it's easier sleeping at night knowing that the method I have chosen focuses on decreasing misery and tragedy rather than increasing it.

And for the many readers who missed this point and compared Auntie Pinko to Goebbels, Torquemada, the Great Satan, and other figures of evil, I apologize for elevating your blood pressure. And for those who will, doubtless, regard this column as an expression of monstrous evil, I apologize again, in advance, for elevating your blood pressure.

For those who questioned Auntie's age, gender, membership in the human species, etc., let me just say that the last time I checked I was in indisputable possession of a uterus, able to remember political administrations prior to JFK, and am unadorned (at least as of this writing,) with horns, tail, extra digits, superfluous eyes, cloven hooves, antennae, or other physical attributes of nonhuman origin.

Finally, while Auntie is always gratified, frequently amused, sometimes astonished, and only occasionally revolted by my dear readers' responses to my writings, this will be my last column on this subject. I'm well aware I'm not going to change your minds, and you're hardly likely to change my mind. There are far too many other issues out there to explore from my own Pink Perspective to lavish further column space on futile exposition. But I do enjoy hearing from you, so keep those letters and questions coming!

Affectionately,
Auntie P

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