Truth be told, I love watching some of those religious stations. I just can’t help it. When I’m cruising on my remote control through my nine thousand channels, something compels me to stop when I see some sweaty, screaming preacher type railing about the horrors of abortion, homosexuality, unbalanced budgets and whatever else they want to throw in the mix. Of course, I do get a kick out of how they manage every few minutes to remind their mesmerized audience that they need a gazillion dollars for that new church that God has ordered them to build.

So, this past weekend there I was again, listening to another sermon. This one was on the role of the father of the “unborn baby” who was facing imminent “execution at the hands of the blood-sucking abortionist.” We’ve heard it all before. Does not the father, who has put so much effort into the creation of this precious little baby, have a say in whether or not that precious little baby will be EXECUTED?

“Yes! The father has rights too!” shouts the preacher to a chorus of Amens and Praise the Lords. Why shouldn’t that man who got lucky have something to say about whether the fetus lives or dies?

Scotty, beam me up.

First of all, years ago the U.S. Supreme Court declared that all spousal consent laws were unconstitutional. In the case of Planned Parenthood v Casey the Court said, well, I’m not going to waste my blogging space to review the case. You can do that. Suffice it to say the Supremes said it’s ultimately up to the woman.

But, contrary to popular belief, Supreme Court decisions are not always etched in stone. If that were the case, Plessy v Ferguson would still be the law of the land and black Americans would still be sitting in a separate section of Wendy’s. Times change. So I do not fault this preacher for advocating to change the current law.

Here’s the thing, however. The pro-life movement is very adept at arguing around the edges to suit their goals. So, for example, they will rant and rave about those later term abortions, as if they are a very common occurrence when the fact is that out of the one millions or so abortions performed every year, they constitute a small percentage of the total. Still, the pro-lifers love to show those pictures of that big beautiful baby with semi-developed extremities who is about to be aborted. That is more shocking than showing a picture of an inch long fetus. Kudos to their PR department.

The same goes for the issue of spousal consent  The facts are that the vast, vast majority of men who have helped conceive a child are always involved in the decision whether or not to bring the baby to term. The baby was created out of an act of love and a couple in love will generally seek a consensus. Indeed, when a woman learns she is pregnant, the first person she usually informs is the father. In some cases, they will both rejoice knowing they are going to have a child. But if there are doubts about whether or not to have the baby, they are BOTH going to discuss it. If a couple cannot talk about that decision – one of the toughest of their lives – then that relationship is doomed to begin with.

So, let’s all keep our perspective if possible. Spousal consent for an abortion is already practiced in the vast majority of cases.

But lest there be any misunderstanding – when there is a disagreement between the husband and wife, well, it’s the WOMAN’s body, my friends. That’s the bottom line for me.