Joe Moran: Congress’ misogyny shows

What is behind the threat to shut down our government over Planned Parenthood? And what does it tell us about U.S. legislators’ view of “sanctity of life”?

The $327,000 (3 percent of its budget) that Planned Parenthood spends on abortions (none of it U.S. taxpayers’ money) is equivalent to a third of the cost of a single pilot’s helmet for our country’s new $1.5 trillion F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Jet program. That program is one of many billion-dollar weapons programs (nuclear weapons, drones, warhead missile-carrying submarines, etc.) that “we the people” bankroll, the purpose of which is the taking of life – not just of combatants as it happens, but also of innocent and defenseless men, women and children. (Maybe this is why the Catholic Church and the pope condemn nuclear weapons, arms manufacturing and arms sales with the same vehemence with which they do abortion).

Why is the mostly male Congress’ exorbitant throwing of money into limitless weapons aimed at the destruction of human life deemed less offensive than the actions of women who likewise make personal decisions of moral gravity?

This is more about misogyny and vote-garnering than it is about moral offense and ethical consistency.

This story was originally published September 30, 2015 at 4:42 PM with the headline "Joe Moran: Congress’ misogyny shows."