Dear Gov. Pence, Please Stop ‘Helping’


Eric-Edling
Eric Edling

Some help is the kind of help we all could do without.

Three months ago, Governor Mike Pence of Indiana signed HB 1337 into law. Called extreme even by fellow Republicans, HB 1337 bars doctors from performing abortions for women who are seeking them solely because of race, gender, or disability. In particular, Governor Pence and advocates for the bill have emphasized the protections that the bill offers for people born with disabilities.

As a person born with spina bifida, one of the most common birth defects in the United States, part of me wishes my heart was with this bill. However, there are so many problems for people with disabilities that remain unsolved, and so much ignorance on the issue of disability that signing bills like HB 1337 into law is illogical. Signing bills like HB 1337 into law without dealing with systemic problems and without educating the public on disability is like bandaging someone’s leg when they have a broken arm. It’s good that you want to help, but in the end it does nothing to solve the actual problem.

If people are not enabled by their society to live with dignity and opportunity, then saying they have the right to live does not mean much.

A Simplistic Response to Disability

When HB 1337 was signed into law, Governor Pence stated “I believe that a society can be judged by how it deals with the most vulnerable — the aged, the infirm, the disabled and the unborn.” However, there is a problem with putting his belief into action through HB 1337. HB 1337 is a very simplistic response to disability, which is an issue with many layers. If laws like HB 1337 are put into practice with current conditions in place, one thing becomes quite clear: Once you are born, you are on your own.

For example, People with disabilities still have very little support in the area of employment. According to an article by demos.org, an organization that studies public policy, the number of people with disabilities that are employed or looking for employment has fallen to 39.2 percent. As a result, the poverty rate for people with disabilities over the period of 2000-2013 increased 50 percent.

Even though anti-discrimination laws for people with disabilities have existed for over 20 years, people and corporations still find ways to discriminate in employment and payment. Goodwill Industries has come under fire for paying workers with disabilities far below minimum wage as recently as last year. A legal loophole in a law called the Fair Labor Standard Act allows companies like Goodwill to give jobs to disabled employees for as low as $3.99 an hour.  If Governor Pence wants to affirm the worth of the lives with disabilities, then he needs to put forward legislation that removes the systemic problems that get in the way of people with disabilities once they have been born.

However, Governor Pence does have a point. It is often necessary to judge a society by how it treats its most vulnerable citizens. Babies are our most vulnerable citizens, and selective abortion of fetuses with disabilities does undermine a moral standard. However, there are many misconceptions that dictate how we treat people with disabilities in the first place. For example, according to a study by the National Council on Disability called Rocking The Cradle, parents with disabilities are legally and physically vulnerable because of laws based on stereotypes. Eleven states still have compulsory sterilization laws on the books, and high numbers of women with disabilities report attempts by their doctor to coerce them into sterilization. Many parents with disabilities also have had custody rights taken away simply because they have a disability. This is often done without examining whether or not there are support services that can be given to the parents, or examining whether the parent’s disability even hinders their ability to be parents in the first place.

Parenthood is one of the most basic institutions that people can become a part of, and these prejudicial practices that go on unimpeded undermine the moral standard that Governor Pence claims to uphold.

Affirming the worth of people born with a disability is a worthy cause. Disability rights is a cause that has not received anywhere near the amount of attention it deserves, but laws like HB 1337 are only justified if we provide adequate support to people with disabilities in all facets of life, and strive to remove public ignorance about life with a disability.

Eric Edling, 23, is a junior at the University of North Texas, and splits his time between living in the college town of Denton, Texas, and back home in Plano, Texas. Majoring in Radio, TV, And Film, he enjoys writing, playing with his dog, Luna, and doing ballroom dance competitions and performances with Arthur Murray Dance Studio in Plano.


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