One of my most adamant public policy positions, based on my Christian beliefs, is the promotion of the pro-life movement. Abortion is one of the most heinous sins, arguably the most heinous, to be found in American society. Along with the normalization of the sin of homosexuality, the very nature of human beings and their interaction with each other has altered fundamentally over the past four decades.
I’ve also tempered my deep concern over abortion by advocating whatever incremental measures that can be taken to limit the number of innocent children being slaughtered in the womb. Yet, whenever I see bold steps taken to highlight this crime, I will give them my unstinting support. Lately, legislators in a number of states, mostly in the much-maligned South, have taken such steps, showing that they, unlike the abortionists, still have hearts.
Progressives—the ultimate in mislabeling a movement—are appalled. They cry that those backward states are callous toward women who “need” abortions. They call for boycotts of those states. Their shrill cry of “extremism” is rather ironic:
The whole abortion-lobby argument is based on the faulty premise that all we are talking about is a woman’s right to do whatever she chooses with her own body. No, there are two distinct bodies involved.
To say otherwise is to deny scientific fact. The abortionists’ beliefs are exactly that—beliefs only, based on an ideology of selfishness, with no concern for the other life that is being fatally affected. The pro-abortion position (which is the correct name for it) claims to be all about choice, but it’s choice only for one, not two.
And as that political cartoon notes, at least half, probably more, of abortions take the lives of future women. Whatever happened to the idea of women’s rights?
Let me deal with one more aspect. For years, even some on the pro-life side have agreed to abortion exceptions for rape, incest, or the possibility of the mother dying during a live birth. First, all of those instances taken together are an insignificant percentage of the reasons given for abortions: they rarely occur. And is a child conceived by either rape or incest less of a human being? Are we supposed to penalize that child even though its manner of conception was through no fault of its own?
Just before writing this blog, I noted that another state, Louisiana, has now passed a heartbeat bill signed by the Democrat governor. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if more Democrats would begin to turn in this direction?
I realize these bills will now have to go through the gauntlet of the courts. No good thing is allowed to happen without this legal wrangle. But I take heart that we’re at least seeing these kinds of bold moves that can hopefully capture the attention of that great swath of citizens who normally don’t try to think about such things. The arguments for life are compelling, if we can get their attention.