"That's how the Constitution intended it to be" I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure the U.S. Constitution doesn't mention anything at all about abortion - I get what you're saying about state laws, etc but I think the whole idea of "intent" is sort of silly. Not to mention that the fact that some state legislatures decided at one point or another that Jim Crow laws were a good idea, while others didn't.
That said - I think having gone through what you did with your wife, that you'd understand that no pregnant woman/couple ever takes the decision of abortion lightly: contrary to what a lot of pro-life (usually men) people perpetuate.
Also I think the song does a great job of humanizing and personalizing a couple's decision to choose. I don't think it ever makes claims on what the "right" decision would be.
I pace around the parking lot
Then I walk down to buy her flowers
And sell some gifts that I got
It's difficult to say what really happened after hearing this line. Either on Boxing Day, the couple got an official pregnancy test done at the doctor's office (obviously it was positive) after being certain "enough" that she was pregnant via home test - or they already knew she was pregnant and were waiting for her parents to go out of town to have an abortion. I used to think it was the latter, but after reading those last two lines, I think they're at the Doc's for a pregnancy test: being a good BF, he's prepared for either of her reactions to the (probable) positive prenancy: flowers for "yay! we're having a baby!" AND selling his Xmas gifts to raise cash in the case that he needs to help her pay for an abortion if that's what she wants.
So overall, I think this song is really about the experience that a loving boyfriend/husband went/might go through when faced with unintentionally getting his GF/wife pregnant; emphasizing that the choice is not a solitary one.
"That's how the Constitution intended it to be" I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure the U.S. Constitution doesn't mention anything at all about abortion - I get what you're saying about state laws, etc but I think the whole idea of "intent" is sort of silly. Not to mention that the fact that some state legislatures decided at one point or another that Jim Crow laws were a good idea, while others didn't. That said - I think having gone through what you did with your wife, that you'd understand that no pregnant woman/couple ever takes the decision of abortion lightly: contrary to what a lot of pro-life (usually men) people perpetuate. Also I think the song does a great job of humanizing and personalizing a couple's decision to choose. I don't think it ever makes claims on what the "right" decision would be.
I pace around the parking lot Then I walk down to buy her flowers And sell some gifts that I got
It's difficult to say what really happened after hearing this line. Either on Boxing Day, the couple got an official pregnancy test done at the doctor's office (obviously it was positive) after being certain "enough" that she was pregnant via home test - or they already knew she was pregnant and were waiting for her parents to go out of town to have an abortion. I used to think it was the latter, but after reading those last two lines, I think they're at the Doc's for a pregnancy test: being a good BF, he's prepared for either of her reactions to the (probable) positive prenancy: flowers for "yay! we're having a baby!" AND selling his Xmas gifts to raise cash in the case that he needs to help her pay for an abortion if that's what she wants.
So overall, I think this song is really about the experience that a loving boyfriend/husband went/might go through when faced with unintentionally getting his GF/wife pregnant; emphasizing that the choice is not a solitary one.