This SLO County supervisor cuts through the abortion rhetoric. It’s refreshing

Mere minutes after the announcement of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision, the usual suspects weighed in with reactions:

This from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who once represented parts of San Luis Obispo County: “The people have won a victory. The right to life has been vindicated.”

From Gov. Gavin Newsom: “We refuse to go back, and we will fight like hell to protect our rights and our values.”

And closer to home, this statement from the San Luis Obispo County Republican Party: “It is time to recognize that life is not expendable, but that all people, including the unborn, infirm and the elderly are sacred and made in the image of God.”

It was almost like listening to the sound bites that winning and losing coaches rattle off following a big game.

That’s why it was so refreshing, so real, to come across San Luis Obispo County Supervisor Dawn Ortiz-Legg’s remarks on Facebook.

Here they are, with light editing, and with her permission to share them with our readers:

“First, we all love babies. We want them to have healthy lives and homes. I am hoping to have many grandchildren.

“However, we don’t get to dictate how children are raised and we have many children in the system needing parental care. That’s the reality. Then, we have women in situations that no one would want to be in. A woman’s role in her family directly impacts its success and well-being.

“It is not inhumane to allow the termination of a pregnancy. This has been done since the beginning of time. The court’s decision impacts the very foundation of U.S. freedoms, separation of church and state, and ability for self-determination. It is also important to note how family planning and birth control have reduced abortions significantly in the last decades.

“Personally, as someone who has had an abortion, this is not an easy decision in life, to terminate a pregnancy. It’s personal, it was mine and I take full responsibility for it.

“The court’s action impacts women whose lives may be lost, uncared children brought forth, and tears apart our country. I will do everything in my public role and power as a citizen to reverse this decision for the health of women and the health of our families.

“For those who are so sure about their pro-life positions, please consider fostering children as we have an epidemic of little ones who are not properly cared for.”

In a county as polarized as ours, that took courage.

So thank you, supervisor.

That needed to be said — not by politicians reading carefully scripted lines, but by a leader speaking from the heart, out of concern for women and children.

Yes, children — not just babies. That’s important because children have been largely neglected in this conversation.

Much has been said about protecting babies from conception to birth, but there’s been little talk about how to care for them as they grow into young adults.

While it sounds wonderful to say that it takes a village to raise a child, all too often that “village” is nowhere to be found when help is needed.

As a nation, we can’t provide for all the children here now.

We can’t guarantee they’ll have decent food, housing and medical care. Or that they’ll be safe from violence. So who, exactly, is going to be responsible for taking care of these innocent babies as they’re growing up?

Sure, there’s been talk of providing prenatal and postpartum care, housing assistance and other aid to families in financial need. Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, described one such program to the Los Angeles Times:

“What we’ve done so far with our allies in four states ... is (provide) comprehensive and massive inventories to make sure that women and children in the first two years of the child’s life have access to seven different points of care. They include serving her if she is addicted, serving her if she has no housing, serving her and her child if she has no healthcare or childcare.”

Two years?

What happens when that child needs school shoes? Maybe braces? Help with college expenses?

And what if the child has a serious disability that requires lifelong support?

Who will come to the rescue then?

This may sound cynical, but these are real-world issues that deserve answers, not platitudes about “strengthening” families.

As Supervisor Ortiz-Legg so thoughtfully points out, we all love babies.

But are we willing to provide the support they will need to thrive into adulthood? Or is that another right our Constitution doesn’t address?

Let’s move beyond the platitudes and confront reality.

If we’re going to rob women of the right to decide whether to bear children, which remains a travesty regardless of what comes after, we had better figure out a way to ensure all those babies are well cared for — not just for two years, but for two and twenty.