I was sitting in a coffee shop today and I overheard someone say, “They voted for Obama? Didn’t you tell them he kills babies?”
I’m a strong pro-life supporter and it is one of the major reasons I voted for Barack Obama. That might make you scratch your head because Barack Obama is pro-choice. Here is my take on why Barack should be (or should have been) your choice if you are pro-life.
Abortion has been legal nation wide in America since 1973 when the Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution contains an implicit right to privacy for Americans. With this privacy a woman can choose to have an abortion up until the “point at which the fetus becomes ‘viable.’” I strongly disagree with the idea that a fetus does not have its own right to live. Unfortunately, I am not in the majority. More Americans want legal abortions than don’t. Ardent pro-life supports need to realize this and work for a solution that can actually be achieved. What I think most Americans can get behind is a real effort to reduce the number of abortions.
If current rulings on legal abortion were struck down, it would be up to states to decide abortion laws. Most abortions happen in states that would not outlaw it. For instance, New York City is the abortion capital of America. If you lived in a state that outlawed abortion, you could still have one in another state. So realistically, packing the Supreme Court with crazy conservative justices like Scalia won’t significantly reduce abortions (and you can say good bye to things like Miranda rights, suing polluters, and habeas corpus). John McCain will not be able to get a Scalia-like justice on the Supreme Court with a 55+ seat Democratic Senate anyways. You’d get a milquetoast judge who was ambiguous on Roe v Wade.
I believe the Republican Party is only nominally pro-life. For six years the presidency and congress were Republican controlled and as far as I know the only real effort to reduce abortions was to try to ban partial birth abortion (a very small fraction of all abortions) and promote abstinence-only birth control (which has raised the number of teen pregnancies). I think abortion is a wedge issue that keeps pro-life people voting Republican, so Republicans realize it is not in their best interest to actually reduce abortions. Single issue voters are easily manipulated voters.
I believe that abortions, by and large are not of done casually. Others just don’t see the world like I do and I can’t change that and I try not to judge it either. Women who are poor or young or uneducated often feel they have no other solution. Even if you think they do, they don’t think they do. To reduce abortions in this country you have to educate, empower, and uplift women.
Barack Obama will improve the lives of the poor and the middle class. With affordable healthcare that doesn’t call pregnancy a “pre-existing condition”, tax cuts, and raised child tax credits, the financial burden on anticipating mothers will be greatly reduced. He will restore full sex education to our nation’s classrooms and expand access to contraception. I believe this is a realistic approach that most people can get behind.
So that’s how this pro-life person can feel really good about voting for a pro-choice candidate.
From barackobma.com:
“Barack Obama is an original co-sponsor of legislation to expand access to contraception, health information and preventive services to help reduce unintended pregnancies. Introduced in January 2007, the Prevention First Act will increase funding for family planning and comprehensive sex education that teaches both abstinence and safe sex methods. The Act will also end insurance discrimination against contraception, improve awareness about emergency contraception, and provide compassionate assistance to rape victims.”
