Breeding At The Bottom

I saw a promo for this recently and really think it illustrates the point I was making yesterday on the Pope's mandate for larger families (and no abortions). Mississippi's pro-life junkies have been successful at closing down all but one clinic in the entire state. They basically protest, harass, intimidate and shame women from going in. This special on PBS will take a look at this movement against choice.

PBS' Frontline is scheduled to air an episode tonight, The Last Abortion Clinic. The episode will take a look at the increasing amount of state level anti-choice legislation and will focus on Mississippi. I wonder why.

In the last decade, all but one clinic providing pregnancy terminations in the state have closed. The last abortion clinic, in Jackson, is difficult to access for women outside the capital who do not own a car, who have limited funds for gas or who cannot easily take time off from work or child care responsibilities.

"It's like even before Roe v. Wade for these poor women," says Pat White, a nurse-midwife who has been working in the Mississippi Delta for decades. "We are making decisions for them. These women have no option except to continue with the pregnancy, whether they can afford it, or whether or not it's wanted, or whether or not they can emotionally provide for the child."

Ugh. I'm sure I'll end up screaming at the television the entire time, but I'm planning on watching anyway.

A video preview of the episode is available online.

Here's my problem with this strident movement to prohibit choice. Mississippi consistently ranks as one of the poorest states in the nation. From an education standpoint, students perform at the lowest levels as well. So, just as with third world nations that have few resources and few options, women are stuck having children they cannot afford to feed, educate an properly nurture. So, yes, they can hold the moral high ground on making sure all children are born. But for DECADES Mississippi has been unable to rise from the pits of poverty and illiteracy yet they keep breeding and breeding more children into this sick cycle. Now, what is moral about that?