Radio Shack: You’ve got questions, we’ve got blank stares.
The Mythical Right-To-Life IssueI’ll get it out of the way early on: I’m pro-life. I’m not just “standard” pro-life, I’m the crazy kind that starts with the zygote and ends when worms have had their fill of your fleshy container. Yep, I’m That Guy™. Don’t bother trying to argue with me, either. I’ve made the decision long ago and I’m sticking with it. I’ve thought about it, I’ve pondered it long and hard, and I’m of the opinion that life is immeasurably valuable and it’s not something we can ethically take from another without an extremely good reason (ie. protecting my own life). And yet, I voted for Barack Obama. Why? Abortion and euthanasia are not an issue in this election at all. Consider, Bush is as overtly pro-life as they come and all he managed to legislate was a ban on a specific method of carrying out a partial-birth abortion. He didn’t and couldn’t get the actual act of a PBA outlawed, he could only get one method of it outlawed. Previously, Clinton had signed a ban on the act of PBAs but a federal court struck it down. Bush had no way of getting around that, so those involved chose to attack one of the procedures instead. Eight years in office with both a Republican and Democratic Congress and that’s all the movement on the issue that happened. That’s it. Look at what we had to endure as a society to make that small move. Look at the lives we lost compared to those that could be saved by that measure. No one who is remotely pro-life can argue that it was in any way worth it. The best statistics I can find show 17K PBAs a year in the US, but 190K lives lost (US, allies, and Iraqi) during the Iraq fiasco. As the Bush ban can’t stop PBAs completely, we can’t even say the number of PBAs will go down as a result of this one movement on the issue. Yet, people are still dying overseas in numbers that dwarf those from this issue. Pro-life is all life. Adults count, too. This war is the price we’re paying for people voting solely on this issue. Instead of our unborn sons and daughters being killed, our adult sons and daughters are being killed. This is not progress in any measurable sense. Why should I believe that in another eight years of any single president, no matter their stance on the issue, that any progress in either direction will be made? There’s simply no reason to make that topic a point of discussion in the election as no matter the personal opinion of the president, he has extremely limited powers when it comes to the topic. What matters more on the issue is the balance of power in Congress, and even then there’s enough of a tie between Red and Blue States that nothing will make it out the door since it’s such a dangerous political topic. More than that, since Clinton’s PBA ban was struck down, it’s unlikely that any progress will be made on the pro-life side without a constitutional amendment so that the federal courts can’t just slap the law down again, and forget about getting two-thirds of the states to back that. Thus, we can arrive at the conclusion that no further progress can or will be made on the pro-life front. As such, your selection of politician doesn’t matter for this issue. Focus on other pro-life issues, like not needlessly killing our poor and underprivileged citizens, who constitute the majority of the enlisted soldiers, in a meritless war in a country we have no reasonable reason to be in. As both candidates have said they’re going to end the war, this seems a moot point, doesn’t it? It’s how they’re going to end it that matters. Obama has said time and again there will be a timetable. McCain has said time and again that we’re in it to win it. We haven’t won in five years. We have barely made progress. Less than two years versus another five, at least? How many more must die for us to learn this lesson? The Republicans have taken on this guise of the “religious, moral” party in order to sway the religious voters in their direction, and while they make cursory attempts to follow that agenda, almost every other agenda they take is geared towards oppressing the poor and making the rich richer. It doesn’t take much thought to see this pattern. If you fall for this, if you vote based solely on this one issue for which no progress can reasonably be made, you are only furthering the atrocities committed by these immoral charlatans. Rather, we should be saving our enlisted brothers and sisters’ lives. We should be helping our poor. We should be providing for our needy. We should be taking care of our people and respecting not only their right to life, but their right to a decent life. 
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Quotes
“Any man with eyes in his head, whatever the ideas in his head, who looks at the world as it is today, must know that the whole social substance of marriage has changed . . . Numbers of normal people are getting married, thinking already that they may be divorced . . . The Church was right to refuse even the exception. The world has admitted the exception; and the exception has become the rule . . . The Catholic Church, standing almost alone, declared that it would in fact lead to an anarchical position; and the Catholic Church was right.” — The Well and the Shallows, NY: Sheed & Ward, 1935, 42-43 – G. K. Chesterton
What is your source for the 190K fatalities in Iraq?
Thanks.
http://www.infoshout.com/ came up when I searched last night. The number appears to be 150K from a WHO estimate of civilian deaths plus known coalition deaths. There are a lot of ways of calculating this number, however. Anti-War comes up with 1.2 million somehow. That seemed a little high to me, so I chose a more believable number. At least 190K people have died, en total. That much is acceptable to believe. The 1.2M number requires a little faith in their method, of which I have little since it’s an estimate based on an estimate.
I am FAR from pro-abortion, but I would be considered a pro choice person. There are 40 million abortions in the world every year. There are 15 million children that starve to death or die from malnutrition every year. It is generally accepted that we can keep people alive for 1-2 bucks a day. I wonder what the cost per saved fetus is? Both on pro-life and pro-choice sides. I hate to put $$ on life, but if the goal is to save as many lives as possible, I think it would be worthwhile to know.
I think those numbers are mostly distractions. The parts of the world where children are starving to death are not areas where abortions are readily available, thus considering it some kind of aid to that problem is a logical fallacy.
I couldn’t agree more! I am totally pro life too, and always have been. However, I do not blindly vote for someone simply based on their stance on abortion. I have been saying this for years. As you said, Bush has been in office for 8 years, but abortion is still legal. I doubt that will ever change. Pro life is not just about abortion. It is caring about ALL life, not just the lives that politicians think matter.
Thank you for this post. It is good to know that I am not alone in this way of thinking.
There is nothing mythical about the right-to-life. I, too, am prolife. Zygote to dirt. Babies unborn, babies born alive after an abortion, and those aborted through PBA. The 3,000 world citizens who died on Sept. 11, Iraqis, Afghans, soldiers who went to fight for their freedom, and ours. Black, white, and all colors in between. Male, female.
But let’s start with Obama’s vote against banning PBA and to protect babies born alive after abortion.
Those votes are not just about one issue, but help me as a voter to understand the true character of the man. Abortion and euthanasia are always an issue. Who are the people we choose to lead us. If we blur the lines and say these two issues aren’t important, but we are pro-life…that’s an oxymoron.
PBA is an unconscionable practice, and voting to preserve it is equally unconscionable.
Bush voted his conscience instead of politics when he voted against PBAs. He never, nor do I, expected the Supreme Court to reverse Roe v. Wade.
I, like many, had a grandmother almost die from a coat hanger abortion. My mother remembers her nearly bleeding to death. Returning to those days will not save lives.
What I want is for an activated conscience—from the President on down to the poor, young pregnant woman, the woman who is simply messing around, or the woman pregnant with a Downs baby. Understand what abortion does, in your conscience, in your gut, in your soul, not because a law says don’t do it. It takes a life. Period.
You make the case that war can be compared to abortion…that we have sacrificed 190K lives,....(I, too, would like more evidence of those numbers.) I believe that Bush made mistakes in the initiation and management of the war in Iraq.
But like so many who decry the war, you fail to mention that the Iraqis are beginning to manage their country without a cold-blooded murderer at the helm, a man who would burn women in the street, shoot relatives in cold blood, gas his countrymen, and destroy the environment in the Fertile Crescent simply to destroy his people.
People say there were no WMDs, and I say, Hussein was an WMD. I believe that Bush’s legacy will not be that he killed 4,000 young men and women, but that he stood up to a bully dictator who was destroying his country and harboring terrorists. The legacy of that decision will not be decided for some time to come.
I know people have died in the process…and I weep for each and everyone of them. But people do regrettably die fighting for and preserving freedom. Mainly because there are people who, like Hussein, do not value life.
I never doubted this war and I never compared it to the abortion issue, except to say, if you are going to disagree with the war, then disagree with abortion. But you are coming at it from the opposite direction, justifying a vote for a person who says he wants to end the war, but who will wantonly vote to kill babies.
Not only will Obama not save the unborn, I do not believe he will “save” the poor and the downtrodden. Nor will he remove us from Iraq any faster than Bush is doing, unless he does not recognize that an untimely withdrawal will send Iraq back into chaos.
Obama is a man after power. The kind of power that leads to corruption and mayhem. If he is elected, I will consider it a bloodless coup (well, hopefully bloodless).
I hope your trust in Obama is not misplaced, for the sake of all of us. Although I disagree with Obama on virtually every issue, if he is elected tomorrow, I will pray for him that he is protected, guided, and does what is right for all life.
Well, first, get your own blog.
It’s nice that you think McCain is someone other than who he’s running as and think the same for Obama, but looking at any statement from either person clearly states that you have some serious misconceptions about both candidates (and some issues on historical events, to boot).
You apparently also missed Obama’s clear answer when asked about abortion: “I think the better answer… is to figure out, how do we make sure the young mothers, or women who have a pregnancy that’s unexpected or difficult, have the kind of support they need to make a whole range of choices, including adoption and keeping the child.”
I’d point-by-point you, but not only would it be useless, it wouldn’t really be keeping with the spirit of my position on this issue. It’s a moot issue.
My apologies. It is your forum, but if you allow comments…doesn’t that lend itself to discussion?
But I agree…I was longwinded. Sorry.
I agree with Obama’s statement…which is why it is utterly baffling that he would vote the way he did and that you rationalize it the way you do.
I understand too, that there are so many points of view on the war and its cost…it’s an argument I usually don’t engage in, mainly because I really do understand the anguish.
I know you don’t want to go point by point…but I am really curious where you think I’m off on historical events.
And, if you’ll notice, I never mentioned McCain. That’s a whole other issue.
ok, i’m done.
well, er, I just noticed the quote below. Drawing the line somewhere. Hmmmm.
I am pro-choice, but not for the usual nonsense of “a woman’s right to choose” Abortion is killing a baby.
I worked for years with emotionally disturbed children to decide that no one should have to endure what they did… Ever. I don’t understand that kind of suffering.
Abortion is certainly an epidemic. Banning it will not stop it. Abstinence only programs have proven to be ineffective at preventing it. I would love to see the Pro-Life movement, and those who claim to be pro-life, do things to stop abortions at the point when we actually can—before the unwanted pregnancy starts.
Things we can all do to show respect for unborn life:
1. Heavily support programs that give free/sliding scale health care AND birth control options to all women. This also includes making sure that pharmacists can’t interfere with a decision made between a woman and her doctor or midwife.
2. Adopt or foster children born addicted to drugs and/or taken away for reasons of abuse/neglect. I believe many pro-lifers come from functional and generally happy families. They really don’t have a real idea of what pain means. Why can’t they bring these suffering children into their warm and functional homes. Then, the children could learn self-respect and stop the vicious circle.
3. Demand that the USA doesn’t refuse international healthcare assistance only on the basis of whether or not that nation only abstinence-only sex education.
I would love to see our nation, our world, cured of this murdering epidemic. Abortion existed before Roe vs Wade and will continue to exist if it is ever made illegal again. The only way to stop it is to nip it at the source—unwanted pregnancies!