Why Are Tattoos So Bad?

February 26, 2009 by Cato  
Filed under Conservatism, Healthcare, Liberalism, Maryland, Maryland Politics

Abortion is an issue I rarely bring up online.  Despite my strong pro-life beliefs, it has been my experience that this issue is far too emotional for too many on both sides of this issue.  However, recent action by the Maryland House demands a response.

The other day, the Maryland House approved HB 45.  This bill will require that minors receive parental consent in order to receive a tattoo or body piercing.  There’s certainly nothing wrong with that.  Perhaps that’s why the bill passed unanimously.

The problem is that the House voted down an amendment which would have included surgical procedures such as an abortion.  The logic of the amendment is simple:  “Isn’t abortion a bit more significant than piercing your nose?“

Given that part of the impetus behind HB 45 was that procedures like tattooing and body piercing may require post-procedure follow-up due to the possibility of infection, it’s hard to understand why a surgical procedure wouldn’t require the same follow-up.  Obviously, it does.

Unfortunately, abortion has become a quasi-religious crusade for the left and far right.  The left refuses to accept any regulation of a medical procedure that they would DEMAND regulation of IF it wasn’t the holy grail of abortion.  The far right has become the left’s mirror image by demanding federal solutions to what should be a state issue (one of the many inherent errors of Roe v Wade).

While I am not a huge fan of compromise, neither am I an advocate of removing rationality from the legislative process.  If deliberate thought ever returns to this issue, America will be the better for it.