EDITORIAL – Abortion, immigration linked

Apparently abortion is to blame for illegal immigration. And Santa Claus is guilty of… Apparently abortion is to blame for illegal immigration. And Santa Claus is guilty of causing cancer, too.

Well, we were lying about the second thing, but there are some people in this country who actually believe that abortion is causing a shortage of American workers and thus creating jobs for illegal immigrants.

The Associated Press reported yesterday that the Missouri state House Special Committee on Immigration Reform produced a report indicating that abortion is partly to blame for causing a shortage of American workers. The report also blames “liberal social welfare policies” for discouraging American workers and encouraging illegal immigrants to cross into the United States to find employment.

The report states, “Suggestions for how to stop illegal hiring carried without any simple solution. The lack of traditional work ethic, combined with the effects of 30 years of abortion and expanding liberal social welfare policies have produced a shortage of workers and a lack of incentive for those who can work.”

The report also states that there are about 80,000 fewer workers in Missouri — workers who would be members of a “highly productive age group” — because of abortion.

While the 10 Republicans on the panel unanimously supported the report, all six Democrats involved refused to sign the report. Good thinking, Dems. The conclusions made in the report are unfounded and preposterous. Rep. Trent Skaggs called the report “delusional” and said that it contained a lot of editorial comment.

The committee chairman, Rep. Ed Emery, defended the report, citing statistics.

“We hear a lot of arguments today that the reason that we can’t get serious about our borders is that we are desperate for all these workers,” Emery said in the AP article. “You don’t have to think too long. If you kill 44 million of your potential workers, it’s not too surprising we would be desperate for workers.”

The line of thinking adopted by the authors of this report is fundamentally flawed and makes many, many assumptions.

Part of the appeal of employing illegal immigrants is their willingness to work for lower wages and longer hours than citizens and without benefits like health care. It’s doubtful that the people who are employing illegal immigrants wish that they had a large legal workforce to employ. And who’s to say they don’t? People who employ illegal aliens choose to do so. They aren’t forced to hire illegal immigrants because of a shortage of American workers, and it’s certainly not due to abortion.

Hopefully, Missouri citizens will hold their representatives accountable for the outrageous allegations made in this report. Maybe they should pick up a book on logic next time they are shopping for a scapegoat.