I thought I would choose a light topic for my first blog in over 4 months.  But seriously, this had been something I haven’t been able to get off my mind and heart for a month now.  This blog was sparked by a facebook message turned dialog with Christians discussing Obama’s record on abortion and being pro-life but voting for a pro-choice candidate.  Rather than annoy people who weren’t in the discussion with a zillion messages in their inbox, I thought I would lead the discussion to this blog.

Let me start by saying I’m moderate, not strong on either side.  My democratic friends wouldn’t like my fiscal stance and my republican friends wouldn’t like my stance on gun control or illegal immigration. Being neither republican or democrat the issue of abortion comes up for me each time I vote. 

Let me clarify this discussion was among Pro Life people and the discussion and questions below are in that context.  After reading articles and the discussion from the facebook message (I’ll link below), these are the questions and thoughts I keep coming back to:

Is Abortion morally wrong?  If so, should we just support strategies that lessen it or are we obligated to fight for more?

A person is Pro Life because they believe that life begins at conception and taking the life of the unborn is killing someone who has a right to live.  Being Pro Life is founded in a moral issue, right vs wrong.  It’s not simply a religious issue because all societies legislate morals (ie - it’s illegal to rape, steal, kill, ect. in most societies).

This is the argument made by Donald Miller, a christian author, who said, “The Democrats have proposed comprehensive legislation called the 95/10 initiative that aims to reduce the number of abortions that take place in this country by 95% within 10 years. While Barack Obama is a pro-choice candidate, he supports this and similar legislation. This is the only proposed and realistic strategy that can move us around the cultural impasse that is breathing hate and anger into the Christian community.”  I don’t see how you could agree with this and still see abortion as morally wrong. 

Tell me if I’m wrong but wouldn’t this be similar to someone 60 years ago saying, “I don’t support segregation but everyone has a right to choose for themselves.  I like candidate “a” because he’s in favor of minimal segregation and that’s a huge step in the right direction.” No, we all agree that segregation, separating people based on race, is morally repulsive and wrong.  We didn’t want segregation just lessened, we wanted it stopped.

Shouldn’t that always be the case if something is morally wrong?  Is an in between stance acceptable when addressing moral issues?

Why would we simply address the root cause when dealing with abortion, but not do that with other moral issues?

I’ve heard that we should go after the root cause of abortions and not seek to overturn Roe vs. Wade.  In doing so, that will overall lesson the number of abortions and overtime make this situation in our country better.

This doesn’t seem consistent to how we legislate or address other   moral problems in our country.  Gerard Bradly said it this way in a recent article, “Take the example of domestic violence. Suppose that approximately 1.2 million American women are killed each year by domestic violence. Suppose further that a Presidential candidate said the following: "Friends, I think we must stop wasting resources prosecuting domestic violence. Let us get the law out of the picture. Maybe someday we could arrest men who kill women at home. But that day is not today, for anyone can see that arrests and convictions have not slowed the rate of domestic violence very much at all. Besides, we are talking about private family matters where people make hard choices. Let us instead join together and attack the root causes of domestic violence, causes which have to do with ignorance and poverty. I propose therefore to give angry men jobs and money to attend anger management classes. And I think we should start teaching all of America' children early on that every man and woman deserves to be treated well."

Again, is there an in between position or time to lessen the effects when dealing with a morally wrong situation?

Why would a Pro Choice candidate want to lessen the number of abortions?

This wasn’t in our discussion but something I’ve been trying to understand for the past week since the debate.  If you are Pro Choice and believe that a women’s choice is the ultimate factor in this debate, why would you want to lessen the number of abortions?

Obama said, “I believe we must work together to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies.  I support legislation to expand access to contraception, health information, and preventative services to help reduce unintended pregnancies.”

What would be the reason for this if you are Pro Choice?  If it’s not morally wrong to abort a baby and if a women’s right to choose must always be protected, what’s the motivation to lessen unintended pregnancies?  To desire abortions to be lessened overall wouldn’t you have to admit that it’s wrong?  Then again, if it’s wrong ... don’t we have an obligation to stop it from happening?

Conclusion, Links, Rules

These are honest questions I have rolling around in my head.  I totally admit that I will miss a lot and am open your suggestions , ideas, and thoughts.  If a discussion starts (from the 6 people who read my blog, ha ha) I ask that it’s respectful, thought out, and informed. 

I don’t mean this as an attack on Obama because there are things I agree and disagree with him on, but this issue of abortion still stands as a deal breaker for me.  With an election looming, his stance is a good way for us to discuss and address this issue.

Here are the links from both sides of our discussion if you want to do further research:

Generic Information:

On the Issue - Obama on Abortion

Obama’s Record on Choice

Pro Life voting for Obama:

Don Miller’s Blog on the subject

God’s Politics - A New Conversation on Abortion

Obama on Abortion -  (see the link "Obama on Abortion: Further info by Ron Sider")

Pro Life not voting for Pro Choice Candidate:

Randy Alcorn - Obama Pro Choice

When it is acceptable to vote Pro Choice

Obama’s Record on Choice