I’m a deeply troubled person right now. I don’t mean that I’m mentally unstable, though. It’s not an “emotionally” troubled. I’m worried about bigger things.

What causes me the most concern are things which, presently, may seem distant or even quite unlikely altogether.

However, there’s a lot to be uncomfortable with right now if you’re a young person.

If you’re poor and aren’t a sports god, you might have to worry about how you’ll pay college tuition with the rising cost of education and the decreasing number of grants available.

If you are in college, you might worry that you’re going to graduate with a degree that doesn’t guarantee a job. You might worry that even if it does, that it might not be one which provides a salary which will sustain you or the health benefits necessary to start a family.

If you do already have a family, your concerns are likely plentiful.

Will your children have to grow up in a society that doesn’t put any support into the public schools they attend? Will they witness the last rainforests bulldozed and the last of the fossil fuels depleted?

Will they even be able to breathe the air?

I’m worried about this. I’m aware that some others are, too.

What is unfortunate is that most of America is not currently worrying with us.

After the utter anticlimax that was George W. Bush’s re- election last November, sane people everywhere scrambled to figure out: how did he do it? Here was a man who had few accomplishments of which to speak other than his “heroic” (a.k.a. doing what any decent President would do) response to 9/11, yet he won a second term.

But CNN (and other news media who conducted similar research and polls) knew what it was which made him victorious.

Yes, Bush could attribute his success to his “moral values,” considering that 80 percent of the people who voted for him in 2004 claimed that their decision was influenced by them.

Moral values encompass a variety of ideas, but the one which always seems to bring the single-issue voters out of the woodwork is abortion.

No matter what you do, you can’t hide from this controversial topic. Most recently, controversy over replacing Sandra Day O’Connor’s seat in the Supreme Court has centered almost exclusively around this issue. (By the time you read this, Bush will have already announced his nominee, which I’m sure will begin a whole new storm of speculation no matter who it is.)

When a name comes up as a possible replacement, few ask how the person feels about issues like terrorism or the environment.

Nope, it’s always, “pro-choice or pro-life?” It’s not surprising that those who perceive abortion as “baby killing” would take measures to try to stop it. To someone who is pro-life, no amount of trying to convince them that it is the woman’s right to choose has ever been or ever will be a success. They simply see abortion as murder, and that is where all discussion begins and ends.

If you saw what you considered to be murder being permitted by the American government on its own soil, you would likely try to put a stop to it as well. Wouldn’t you?

I understand this concern, even if it is not one I agree with.

But I’m still frustrated with it. In all the time that has passed since the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, the fact that the opposition continues to protest while ignoring all other domestic problems as if it is the only issue that matters is angering.

Even if the pro-life movement of this country finally gets its way and we see Roe v. Wade overturned, be it this year or in fifty years, they would be silly to assume that it would even last.

The history of our country proves that abortion has always existed here. Abortionists used to advertise in colonial newspapers for their services. Doctors would perform abortions up until “quickening” (first fetal movements felt by the mother) occurred, which could be half way through the pregnancy.

Abortion only began to be restricted in the 1800s when doctors argued that the woman’s life could be in jeopardy. Though some pro-life supporters claim that the first feminists opposed abortions, this was simply because they saw it as a threat to a woman’s health, not because the fetus had a “right to live.”

Medicine and technology were clearly not up to standard in those days. This is not the case now. Having an abortion today is actually safer than carrying the pregnancy to term.

By the 1960s, abortion had been banned in all 50 states, but this was soon to change.

Roe v. Wade sealed the deal in 1973 that the government officially sided with the woman’s right to privacy over the rights of the fetus.

Since then, many Supreme Court cases have re-examined territory Roe v. Wade covered, and despite some alterations, the original decision has been upheld.

Even if a new justice makes it easy for anti-choice revisions to be made to Roe v. Wade, I rest easily knowing that in the end, sanity and common sense usually prevail.

Those who oppose abortion have not been successful in preventing it from occurring in the past. Even in countries where abortion is illegal, there are still 10 to 20 million abortions being performed annually.

And history proves that they will continue to be rendered incapable of placing any type of ban (at least one that sticks) on abortions in the future, no matter in which partisan direction our government swings.

So why is the pro-life camp waiting around for a change that just isn’t going to happen?

My plea for the people of this country who are sitting around waiting for this to happen is that they stop doing this, take a look around and realize that there are bigger battles to fight.

If Americans would take only a glimpse at the other social and economic problems that are currently weakening our society, I’m convinced that both their views and voting habits would change dramatically.

Basically, there are lot of things to worry about in this world.

Whether a woman you’ve never met living hundreds of miles away from you will have the right to make a choice about her own body should not be one of them.

And if you want to worry about children, perhaps you should worry that in twenty years’ time, this country may not be a place in which you will even want to raise any.

Send comments to Megan at [email protected]