Prohibition brought crime and death. Repealing Roe would have similar outcome. |Opinion

Thomas W. Billing is a retired teacher of 35-plus years in Springfield City Schools.  

The possible overturning of a law that was working well by the U.S. Supreme Court in the near future gives me pause to reflect.

I think that there likely are some striking similarities with the controversial amendment passed in the early 1920’s — Prohibition. That amendment was created as a cave-in to some radical people (mostly the Woman's Christian Temperance Union), who hated the consumption of alcohol, so they pushed to have it banned.

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The ramifications were that it created organized crime that sold bootlegged whiskey. The first thing that took place was that many members of Congress who passed this law hustled out and bought all the booze they could get for their own homes before the law took effect.

There were many bathtub gin producers who did not know what they were doing and created poison in some cases that killed people.

Eventually, Congress realized that it was the worst amendment ever passed and created one to end it.  The damage had been done however, as organized crime was flourishing and likely will continue to do so going forward.

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Abortion ending means that women will have to go back to self-abortions with coat hangers, etc., and many will die from that, or will have to go to friendly states or countries to obtain this service.

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If the GOP is able to pass a law making it illegal in the entire country, this would exacerbate things further, as women would have to travel to Canada or Mexico for this procedure. The future is unclear but it likely will result in many more deaths.

I don’t like NASCAR, but I don’t believe in outlawing it just because I don’t like it. I hate smoking, but it should not be outlawed because of my feelings. I just hope people do not smoke around me.

Just because the Roman Catholic Church is opposed to abortion should not mean that it needs to be outlawed. This church as well as radical Protestants are fine with hating abortion, but this is no reason to make it illegal.

No one ever has an “abortion party” afterward as no one I know likes abortion, but they view it as a necessary tool in the medical community’s quiver.  It is not my business if a woman feels she needs this procedure.

The idea of banning the morning-after pill and even birth control itself is beyond comprehension. Interestingly enough, the party that is hell-bent on ending Roe v. Wade is also opposed to helping women procure formula for their babies. The GOP is not “pro life, but “pro birth,” which means once a child is born he is on his own with no help from them.

With Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst and company pushing for a national abortion ban, what happened to the “states' rights” party from the past?  If they were for states' rights, they would not be trying to force liberal states to adhere to their archaic positions.

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As with Prohibition causing members of Congress to go out to buy booze, GOP men who impregnate their underlings will force them to get an abortion to avoid the bad press. It has happened before and likely will happen again, as these ladies will be whisked away to Canada or Mexico, or to a doctor who will perform it in clandestine manner and location. Fortunately, there have been a few times that this information leaked out to the media and I hope will again.

The end of democracy in this country is near and it is a shame. In my opinion, it is not a democracy anyway, because in a democracy, the election winner gets the job. In many presidential elections, the loser has moved into the White House because of the Electoral College, which is anti-democratic.

I fear for the future of this country as countries that turn back the clock invariably crumble.

Thomas W. Billing is a retired teacher of 35-plus years in Springfield City Schools.  

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Opinion: Outlawing abortion would have similar results as Prohibition