A Patriotic Deserter
By Cari Crosby

I had somehow missed this new Texas law (or perhaps it's not that new?) that protects fetuses and classifies them as "individuals" that can be murdered just like anyone else. As someone who is pro-choice, this law alarms me. These so-called "fetal homocide laws" are the first step towards taking away the right to abortion. If the law recognizes fetuses as full persons, how can it also recognize a right to abortion?

Regardless of how strong my feelings are about this issue, I seem to be able to find the logic behind most things -even things I disagree with. I can even find logical reasoning behind a law like this. My guess is the reasoning behind it is that if someone murders a pregnant woman, that there should be some sort of 'extra' punishment... perhaps it is harder for someone to lose not just a wife, but a wife and not-yet-born child, or a daughter and not-yet-born grandchild. Of course when people are pregnant -and choose to keep the fetus and have a child- they start thinking in terms of the "child" before it is born - so to lose that fetus is heartbreaking. Why else would miscarriages be so hard? Anyone who has had a miscarriage, or knows a woman who has been through a miscarriage, knows that it is a tremendously hard thing to go through. So yeah, if a pregnant woman is in an abusive relationship and has a miscarriage as a result - I guess maybe it makes sense to punish the abuser a bit more than you would for simply being an abuser.

Of course, there are a few problems with that idea. First of all, generally abusers aren't punished much in the first place. So if you go with that kind of idea, where an abuser who causes a miscarriage gets punished while the rest just get away with it - then it becomes all the more troubling...the abuse only matters if there is a fetus affected. So the woman's life doesn't matter as much as the fetus inside of her. Major problem. Second, cases like this can happen (which is how I found out about the law to begin with). A young pregnant woman decides she doesn't want to be pregnant anymore - she's 5 months in and worries getting a legal abortion will be difficult - so, she tries to force a miscarriage, and asks her boyfriend to help. Her punching her own stomach (with the fetus inside) is not illegal, as she is allowed to have an abortion. However, her boyfriend stepping on her stomach is. (Of course I'm assuming that she really did ask him to do so and he wasn't just an abusive brute that she is covering for - which is certainly possible).

I grew up a very patriotic American - believing the "land of the free" songs and all of the “Best Country on Earth” stuff they teach us in elementary school.  But lately, I've had major troubles believing all of that. When people are jailed for helping a woman have her federally-acknowledged right to an abortion, something is clearly wrong. Why are fetuses valued more than the life of an adult woman? Why is gay marriage (and homosexuality in general) such a feared thing in the US? Why are equal rights being pushed to the backburner in order to help "fight terrorism" with the Patriot Act?

I recently moved to Canada to be with my long-term boyfriend (in fact, I was just accepted as a permanent resident! Woot!), and I've found myself very conflicted at times with my role as a "deserter".

I'm living in Toronto - most definitely one of the most liberal cities in North America. Recently I went to the Pride Parade - which actually brought me to close to tears at times.  Not only was the parade itself huge and pretty all-inclusive, but the crowd that came to see it was massive.  Thousands upon thousands of people came to support gay rights and show their pride. No one was afraid of bigots. Everyone celebrated their individual differences and seemed free to be themselves. What a fabulous event.

Looking at this in contrast to where I grew up (Fort Wayne, Indiana) is very eye-opening. I went to the "Pride Fest" in Fort Wayne - a small, contained, and somewhat hushed event. It was fun - it included a drag show that one of my good friends from high school was involved with. It was a grand time, but was generally a single afternoon event that no one really knew much about. I do remember that all of the queens in the show had to change before they left the event, as my friend told me "it's generally not a good idea to walk around Fort Wayne in drag." How depressing. To end pride day by changing into your "normal" street clothes so you don't have to deal with fear of harassment.

So now that I'm in this wonderfully liberal city where there’s a pride week, and city officials, regardless of their sexual affiliation, are involved in the festivities - I can't help but wonder if I should've stayed somewhere where I could help change things for the better. Enter politics, join some activist groups; anything to keep laws moving forward rather than taking giant bounds backwards. Is simply leaving the country the wrong way to make things better? Sure, it’s better for me. Not only do I get to be with my best friend/life partner for good, thanks to the more liberal immigration laws, but I also get the giant perk of being able to live in such a wonderful city with such wonderful laws. I don't want to dislike the United States. But I'm beginning to lean that way.