So in light of my black Republican yet pro-Obama stance, the number one question I’ve been asked of late is “I thought you were pro-life?” My stance on the issue isn’t that different from Senator Obama’s. I fear a ban would force women to seek unsafe abortions. I am also not going to be the one to tell a woman she can’t have an abortion in the case of rape or her life being in danger. I would rather reduce the number of women who feel the need to have abortions in the first place. But I don’t stop there.
A lot of those babies folks work themselves into a tizzy to see born are put up for adoption, enter our foster system, or otherwise become neglected. It’s like most folks quit caring for them once they are here. If we’re to be true pro-lifers, we need to always be about the “least of these”, the poor, the exploited, the abused, the abandoned. For those focused on their Christian duty to have as many kids as possible, to “have a full quiver” as it were, if you have room in your quiver we need to be the first to be adopting babies.
None of my pro choice friends cheer for more abortions though they are demonized as holding that position. The abortion issue is not my litmus test for politicians because I don’t see Roe vs. Wade overturning or necessarily want it to be, if I’m being completely honest. I am very much about letting people have choices, and a bad choice should be folks option (and back alley abortions does no one any good).
However, in this day and age, with contraception being so easy and relatively inexpensive, it’s far more safe and humane to prevent pregnancy rather than terminate one. The whole abortion as contraception thing bothers me to the core. Late-term abortions are pretty much indefensible.
Abortion is a moral issue, a battle that needs to be waged on the level of the individual, not legislatively (though if folks want to be done with it as an issue, it should be put to amendment vote).
So yes, I’m still pro-life. I still believe life begins at conception, but being pro-life means that I don’t stop worrying about kids once they’re born. Being pro-life means I don’t get to move away from all “the problems” of the city and build personal compounds in the suburbs. It means that all life is valuable, the unborn, the underserved, the abandoned, the forgotten. Here’s the bottom line, a nuanced position is hard to encapsulating into a bumper sticker.
Very well stated, Maurice. In fact, it is a position I could have written myself (though you did it more eloquently, I’m sure), coming from a very similar stance. Abortion as contraception is dreadful. Not having an option in case of rape, incest, or the mother’s safety is unacceptable. I’m pro-life and pro-choice, and they aren’t mutually exclusive.
Hear, hear! Well said indeed, and proof that maybe we can still reach across the divisions of the last few years and find some common ground.
I respect you so much right now, Maurice.
great post. I agree that we have to take of them when they are out of the womb too.
[...] to stave off the comments/e-mails (like the ones I received after my How I’m Still Pro-Life and my No Longer Marching to the Pied Dobson pieces), I don’t care about your politics. [...]
“Late-term abortions are pretty much indefensible.”
I hope that “pretty much” includes wiggle room for late-term abortions performed because the fetus has been determined to not be viable. I can think of nothing crueler than forcing a woman to continue to bear a fetus that will die at birth. I hope it also includes wiggle room for women who are too young to realize they’re pregnant until it’s too late for a first- or second-term abortion. Sadly, with the current lack of quality sex ed in our schools, this happens.
(For the record, I’m pro-choice across the board, but like every pro-choice person I know, want to stop unwanted pregnancies before they happen rather than after the fact.)
[...] comments feature on my blog is moot), my most controversial blog during the last election cycle was how I’m still consider myself pro-life and feel comfortable voting for President Obama: “I still believe life begins at conception, but being pro-life means that I don’t stop [...]