Controversialist Bill Maher recently took a swipe at efforts to allow pregnant women to see their unborn child with an ultrasound before deciding to seek an abortion (as you would guess, ultrasounds save lives):
Is it me, or does Bill seem a little uncomfortable with his own joke?
After all, arguing that you should abort your children because a) they cost a lot of money and b) they will sometimes misbehave is hardly compassionate, or convincing.
I recently saw a new book named “Let’s Panic About Babies!” (I’m not endorsing it since I haven’t read it). The book’s subtitle reads: “How to Endure and Possibly Triumph Over the Adorable Tyrant Who Will Ruin Your Body, Destroy Your Life, Liquefy Your Brain, and Finally Turn You into a Worthwhile Human Being.”
The authors are making the point that, sure, having babies can be “kind of a drag.” But what a worthwhile “inconvenience”! Ask any parent you know if raising kids made them a better human being. I’m going to bet they say yes. Because that’s the point: what would we spend $204,000 on? A new car, a trip to Europe, lots of eating out? Money goes fast, we might as well spend ours on something worthwhile – like someone else.
Sadly, we witness the anti-human (or just plain selfish) attitude behind Bill’s joke all too often today. Just look at what Niel Stienberg recently wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times:
Nobody likes abortion, but if we want a society where 60 percent of adult women are in the work force, where women have control over their lives and do not depend on their menfolk to tell them what to do — then those deaths are not murder.
All the other errors in Niel’s statement aside, just look at his claim: abortion isn’t murder because it saves us from inconvenience! What a sad way to look at the world. Why not create a world where women could be pro-life because they want to protect their unborn babies, are supported by the men in their life, and can still pursue fulfillment inside and outside the home?
Oh wait, that world already exists. I guess Niel has just never come across the men and women of the pro-life movement.
As for Bill – maybe he needs one of us to start helping him write his show.
His jokes are getting real old, real fast.
