A Pro-Life Vote

Evangelicals have been criticized for being one-issue voters. I don't see this criticism as valid. We would applaud someone who voted against Germany's National Socialist Party strictly for its stance on the Jewish population. Our perspective has been that a stance against abortion is equally valid.

Unlike the Nazi policy, pro-choice advocates are not calling for the elimination of fetuses. They are saying that the decision should belong to the mother with advice from her doctor. However, no one supports rights of parents to abuse children. And this too seems analogous (other than the doctor's input).

So how can a pro-life evangelical vote for a Democrat who is pro-choice?

I've thought that it was inconsistent. But then I started to wonder what effect my vote was having. I was listening to the hearings for John Roberts, who seemed to be arguing quite convincingly that he was not about to overturn Roe v. Wade. It got me thinking that it might not be in the best interest of the Republican Party to overturn that decision. How would the issue motivate pro-life voters? It would be a blow to the party.

Meanwhile, I was uncomfortable with what I viewed among Republicans as a bias in favor of our richest citizens. I was willing to cast a  presidential vote that would change the Supreme Court on the abortion issue. But now it looked as if that wasn't going to happen, but decisions in favor of the wealthy might. I felt manipulated.

Donald Trump's evolution towards a pro-life stance has corresponded with his Republican political aspirations. Perhaps he is now concerned about the issue. Perhaps he is more concerned about the votes it can almost guarantee. But will Supreme Court nominees who want to overturn Roe v. Wade ever be approved? Not if even a few Republicans don't want to give up the vote motivator.

If we are truly against abortion, we must do what we can to reduce the number of them. We can continue the awareness campaigns, but we must also support contraception (for those not religiously opposed) and encourage sex education. During the current administration, abortions have dropped by 13 percent after peaking in the previous one. There seem to be many reasons for this drop, but increased availability of contraception and sex education have been among them. You can argue that abstinence is effective contraception, but to depend on it as the only contraception method for young people certainly doesn't work. If we are serious about abortion, we should be arguing about which policies and education will help reduce the incidence of abortion.

We could be working with many pro-choice supporters to reduce abortions. Why aren't we? Because they want a more liberal Supreme Court? Who suffers for our lack of action?

Yes, I would like to hear Democrats pledge to support policies to keep the incidence of abortion on its downward trend. I'll be advocating for that support both before and after I cast my vote for Hilary Clinton.