Forget Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, agnosticism/atheism. Almost all Americans worship the same god. It doesn’t matter whether you are conservative or progressive — today’s unifying American god is “Freedom!”. Conservatives and progressives may disagree about the aspects of freedom, but the recently leaked Supreme Court draft overturning Roe v. Wade brings to the forefront that we Americans really agree on freedom as our god.

The Supreme Court’s draft decision about overturning Roe v. Wade reflects the conservative view that abortion is murder. It also reflects my view. One can argue that a fetus is not yet human because it has not yet been born, but were it allowed to live it would be. That the woman’s freedom is deemed more important than the life of the fetus makes no sense.

If you listen to the liberal political pundits like Trevor Noah and Stephen Colbert, the life of the fetus is not even an issue. I get the argument that an unwanted child changes a woman’s life forever — and therefore limits her freedom. That is understandable and true. But unless the woman was raped or was a victim of incest, her pregnancy came as a result of a decision that she made of her own volition — her own choice, or her unwillingness or inability to use a multitude of birth control devices readily and cheaply available on the free market. Decisions have consequences.

What bothers me about the conservative SCOTUS’ draft overturn of Roe is that it is heartless. There is no thought or concern for the child who will likely grow up unwanted, unloved, neglected and/or abused. The seeming focus of Roe’s potential overturn is to protect the precious life of an infant. The dirty little secret is that 70 percent of Americans favor Roe v. Wade, even conservative religious women, who act and speak against abortion but at the same time, want to preserve the freedom to get the procedure for themselves and their daughters if the need arises. It’s beyond hypocritical.

The problem is that conservatives, as a group, really don’t care about the child’s welfare once it is born. It’s not their problem. Rich women can travel to other states or countries where they can obtain a legal procedure. Poor women often can’t. Ignoring the needs and wants of unwanted children is a far worse evil than abortion. There is no simple, clean answer to this human dilemma.

Both conservatives and progressives have used abortion as a way to rally their bases. It has been very effective in getting out the vote so that elected officials can get reelected. What will the conservatives do to fire up their voters if or when Roe is overturned? Will they go after gay marriage next as progressives are already warning the Court will do?

All this is fear mongering. Conservatives, if the Court overturns Roe this June or July with its final decision, could lose the midterms to the progressives. It’s likely that progressives will then decide to pack the Court with left-leaning judges who will overturn the Roe overturn.

The future does not bode well for the Republican Party, which is already involved in an internecine civil war between those who support Trump and those who are anti-Trump. As I stated in an earlier column, I predict the Republicans are going to be taking a midterm beating in the polls. This potential SCOTUS decision only strengthens my belief. As the saying goes, “Be careful what you wish for.”

While conservatives and progressives both worship at the altar of freedom, the question will be which vision of freedom will predominate in the November midterms. Religious belief does not really matter here because the real issue for both sides is whose interpretation of freedom will succeed. Watch for hypocrisy and fearmongering increasing over the next few months from both parties.

Be aware that morality is not the issue. “It’s all about power.”