Being `prayerful” may not be enough
The Front Page
Morning Update
Thursday, May 5, 2022
By Ken Tingley
Roe vs. Wade has been the law of the land since I was a teenager and I’ve generally believed in a woman’s right to choose. Who was I to decide what was right for another person?
The sad reality is that it wasn’t too long ago - during my lifetime - that having a child out of wedlock was considered scandalous at best, a sin or an abomination at worst. Many young women were sent away to have their babies like it was some sort of contagion. Many were forced to drop out of high school and give up on a college education.
I fear too many people would refer to this as the good old days.
Go back another generation or two and the child might be labeled a bastard and the woman - and child - shunned from society.
A quick review of the birth announcements in the local newspaper shows almost as many unmarried parents as married. The stigma has mostly been removed.
What I worry about is when religion becomes the moral authority in government. It is often already that way in the politics of many states.
During an interview on PBS Newshour Tuesday evening, Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge said this about the abortion issue, “Like so many Americans, we are hopeful and prayerful because many of us thought for the last 50 years that we would never see this day.”
Perhaps it is sacrilege but “prayerful” does not seem to be a good public policy. Rutledge littered references to God throughout her interview.
PBS reporter Amna Nawaz pressed the attorney general. She pointed out that one in five children from unwanted pregnancies currently live in poverty in her state. She pointed out that the foster care system is overwhelmed.
“What’s the state’s plan for those kids?” Nawaz asked.
“Well, we are going to love those kids and we’re going to give them great educational opportunities,” Rutledge said.
Nawaz pointed out Arkansas had a 14 percent increase in kids in the foster care system - over 4,400 - over the past two years and not enough families to take them in. Then she asked if there is a plan in place for those kids.
“Well, certainly there is,” Rutledge said, but she did not elaborate. “We are going to make sure that we have the resources necessary to take care of our kids and give them the education that they need to make sure that we take care of those in foster care.”
That was great to hear.
Perhaps,the abortion issue can be a rallying cry to provide safety nets for young women who need it in the future. Because if abortion is going to be outlawed in more than half the states, if young women are going to be made to feel like criminals, if they are going to face a future with fewer opportunities, then the state should step in.
Those state legislatures should take action to protect the unborn children of the future. It could be part of a new social compact in places like Arkansas that ensures these children and their mothers have a future.
Legislatures across the country should enact the following measures:
Pre-natal health care should be provided free of charge to all women in county clinics.
Maternity and paternity leave should also be extended to all mothers and fathers regardless of whether they are married.
Day care should be provided to everyone for free up until school age.
Contraception education should be extended in all schools, including the option of a morning after pill.
Educational opportunities should be provided free of charge to any young mothers and fathers who need to provide for a child.
If people like the attorney general in Arkansas truly believe in loving the children, this is what they must do to keep them out of poverty.
Surely that is worth the price.
But here is the sad reality. Those proposals will never win you an election in places like Arkansas where being “prayerful” will suffice.
Luzerne event
Lake Luzerne event
I will be speaking about the future of newspapers at Lake Luzerne Historical Society luncheon on Sunday, May 22. Hope to see you there.
My second book, “The Last American Newspaper,” will be out in June and is being published by McFarland Books. The book is a memoir of the people and stories that the Glens Falls newspaper covered while I was editor of The Post-Star. It shows the value of local journalism and the commitment by local journalists.
To attend the luncheon at the Long Horn Restaurant in Lake Luzerne, you need to register by May 17 by calling Sue at (518) 403-4042. (Cost for lunch $22).
“The Last American Newspaper” can be pre ordered at McFarland Books at:
Crandall Library event
I’m pleased to announce Crandall Public Library will be hosting me as their first official in-house program since the beginning of Covid.
The “Conversation with Ken Tingley” will be facilitated by my long-time colleague and recently retired Post-Star projects editor Will Doolittle.
The event is scheduled for Tuesday, May 24 from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Doors open at 5 p.m. with seating set for 100.
Tweet of the Day
Ken, yet again another thoughtful post. We in the US talk a good line about caring for children but somehow the money is never there to support that rhetoric. We still have a shockingly high infant morality rate in this country, a societal neglect of both women and children.
Thoughts and prayers have certainly solved the gun violence problems in this country.