I truly wish that I could be in Washington, DC today. The 35th anniversary of the infamous Roe v. Wade ruling will be coupled with the 34th March for Life. Also, the Blogs4Life Conference will be held before the march. As is usually the case, the major politicians will be avoiding the events and issue as much as possible … they want support from pro-lifers, not to antagonize pro-choicers. It is a difficult line that the phonies walk, trying to be acceptable to true believers with mutually-exclusive philosophies.
We should feel for the hacks, I guess.
I look at the day as one of the black marks against our nation … the day when the Supreme Court decided that the unborn may not be protected, anywhere in the country.
In the 35 years that abortion has been universally legal, there have been over 48 million abortions.
In all of the talk being thrown about in the Republican primary, very few candidates are discussing this.
Even those who do are talking about it in more-philosophical terms. Candidates might be against abortion, but won’t exert federal influence over it. Mitt Romney (this year, anyway), Fred Thompson, Ron Paul, and John McCain are all opposed to abortion, but aren’t willing to do anything about it except try to reverse Roe v. Wade. That is something, but doesn’t save any lives.
Mike Huckabee supports ending abortion nationwide. As the Abolitionists of the 19th century saw that slavery was as evil in Georgia as it was in Pennsylvania, so some of us in the pro-life movement see that abortion is the taking of a human life in any state. Some of us are not willing to pretend that life is less important in some places than others.
Culturally, the United States is certainly not a better place for abortion. 48 million lives snuffed out, and few enough of us feel the tremendous guilt and shame over this that we should. The “throw-away society” has only increased in its extremes, and someone has to call for it to stop.
I can’t be in Washington today, but my heart is there with the marchers, reminding our nation that life matters and that some of us remember it. Our culture has cheapened human life … but some of us stand against that culture.
To the elements within the Republican Party that want to leave the abortion plank behind, I remind you that valuing life is important of any philosophy that really promotes freedom.
There is much controversy as to whether Alexis deTocqueville actually said it, but whether he did or not, I’ll stand by the statement:
America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great
We are becoming less good as we value life less and less. How far behind can our greatness be?
January 22, 2008 at 4:43 pm
I just read a blog post on abortions that so shocked me I want to make sure all in the pro-life fight read it.
Edit – I removed the URL of the site. I don’t promote those kinds of products or any of the advertising there, and I’m not going to link to it.
January 22, 2008 at 11:27 pm
Hey man,
Thanks for the encouragement. It is always good to meet someone of like mind. I don’t have any issues with you linking to my blog. If it brings some more like minded folks all the better. :)
Once again, nice meeting you.
The Scouting Student.
Travis Henry
January 23, 2008 at 9:53 am
I strongly support the goal of ending abortion nationwide. I am not fully convinced that declaring it illegal is the best means, but if it is, then I am fully in favor ot that.
Whether it is legal or illegal, however, we need to put more time, energy, and money in promoting adoption rather than just opposing abortion.
Until pregnant women who don’t want to raise their children know that adoption is the best choice, there will be abortion – legal or not.
January 23, 2008 at 1:09 pm
I’ll give you that — banning abortion in and of itself does no more to end abortion than any other prohibition. It helps, but won’t get there.
The holistic anti-abortion package includes restoring sexual standards so that the original behavior causing unplanned pregnancies doesn’t pregnancy doesn’t even happen. Culturally, there has to be a shift toward valuing the lives enough to go into adoption rather than abortion.
And a truly pro-life ethic needs to be more than just anti-abortion … I’m willing to subsidize prenatal medical care just to help protect those lives. There are environmental concerns, as well.
There’s a whole lot more to the package than just ending abortion … but this is one of those things on which I just have to put my foot down and say, “No more.” Since I can’t make everything happen today, I’m starting here.
But, as usual, PPete, you’re right that this is a bigger question than just that.