Daniel Zene Crowe

Crowe retired from the U.S. Army as a lieutenant colonel and was the 2016 Republican nominee for Oregon attorney general. He divides his time between Mt. Angel, Baker City and Florida.

With the release of its opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court removed the federal judiciary from the abortion regulation business. Under Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, each state once again must decide for itself whether and how to regulate abortion.

Many Oregonians who agree with the status quo are alarmed and distressed. But those who are telling you to panic should probably temper feelings with facts: Oregon has some of the most permissive abortion laws in America which can only be changed by public vote or the Legislature.

A public vote isn’t likely to succeed. In 2018, Oregonians voted 2 to 1 to support public funding of abortion, rejecting Measure 106, which sought to curtail such spending. As for the legislative route, the current partisan breakdown of the Oregon Legislature is 18 Democrats, 12 Republicans in the Senate and 37 Democrats, 23 Republicans in the House. Even if Republicans were able to retake both chambers (and purge newly-elected “pro-choice” Republicans), Oregon Democrats could simply follow recent precedent, walk out and deny the Republicans a quorum.

Given the math, it’s only natural to ask why the majority should care. So what if 34% of your fellow Oregonians can’t get past the fact that 100% of “successful” abortions result in at least one innocent person – and yes, we view an unborn baby as a person – ending up dead?

If regulating abortion was the only reason we had government, a “take it or leave it” approach might work. But a wise citizenry is right to respect the deeply-held convictions of one-third of our people. Each of us is liable to find ourselves in the minority eventually. When minority opinion is disregarded, consensual self-government is undermined. But consensual self-government is the only realistic way to live in peace alongside people with whom you will never agree.

For 50 years, the extremes on both sides have fought a zero-sum game regarding the “supply side” of abortion—that is, increasing or decreasing the legality of the provision of abortion services. As an expert in criminal law, I think that was a mistake. True leadership would focus on the “demand side” of abortion—offering pregnant women a robust menu of no-cost alternatives to abortion.

As in any healthy relationship, finding a way forward is going to require compromise. It is an ancient rule of government that whatever we subsidize we get more of. If carrying babies to term and adoption were fully subsidized, we could expect to see more babies and fewer abortions. In 30 years of military service, I saw how the complete subsidization of pregnancy works. Having a baby costs our service members nothing, and military obstetricians are trained and employed at public expense. Having lots of kids makes our service members (and their families) happier, healthier, and remain in the military longer.

But we needn’t stop there. My children hold joint German-U.S. citizenship. While we were stationed in Germany, we were entitled to “Kindergeld,” a subsidy the German state provides for every child. There is no reason why Oregon couldn’t create a similar incentive structure.

Lastly, Oregonians who foster or adopt a child could receive a $10,000 Oregon tax credit when the kids they’ve welcomed into their homes graduate from high school. The long-term benefit to Oregon taxpayers would more than pay for the “lost” tax revenue.

Oregonians have always been happy to borrow good ideas, because true Oregonians focus on solutions. This is a once-in-a-lifetime-opportunity for Oregon Republicans to distinguish between “Big Government” and “Smart Government.”

Finding a way to live together – that is, finding a political solution – is going to require clawing back abortion policy from those who owe their current power to treating abortion – and a host of other issues – as opportunities to be exploited rather than as challenges to be overcome.

Oregonians are sick and tired of “Diavolos,” as the Greeks put it. The word can be understood as “those who unjustly criticize to hurt and condemn to sever a relationship.” It also happens to be the root of the English word “diabolical.” But the Oregon I grew up in seemed like Eden, a pioneer name for the Oregon Territory. Genuine tolerance was celebrated and compassion was a given, like the compassion my pro-choice and pro-life friends showed when my my wife and I lost our 30-week-old son, Tacitus Zene Crowe in a miscarriage on Thanksgiving Day in 1996.

I, for one, am grateful that Oregonians will once again have to figure out how to live together in a world in which each state decides for itself. Honestly, what do we have to lose? By choosing to live, fearlessly, in love, we might just discover that everyone’s life gets better.