Paternal Government and the Abortion Pill
by Michael J. Hurd
(October 17, 2000)
The abortion pill, the controversial RU-486, is now allowed by the FDA to be sold on the market. How nice of them.
President Clinton insists the delay was purely scientific, and not political. Will this man's capacity for lying never exhaust itself?
Of course the years-long delay in allowing RU-486 on the market has been political!
Political correctness runs in both directions. Just as liberals often use the force of government to impose their views on the population (e.g. using public schools to teach environmentalism), so too do conservatives. In this case, conservatives managed to intimidate a generally left-wing, eight-year administration into blocking sale of the controversial drug until the end of its term.
I don't doubt there are medical concerns and side-effects women must consider before taking RU-486. But we don't need the government to make it illegal.
Plenty of drugs have side-effects, and they are not illegal.
Women can judge for themselves, in consultation with their doctors, whether or not they should take RU-486. We don't need the paternalists of the left or the right to control our bodies and our lives.
Dr. Michael Hurd is a psychotherapist, life coach and author of Effective Therapy (New York: Dunhill, 1997) and Grow Up America! Visit his website at: www.DrHurd.com.
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