Posted by
4winds7 on Saturday, November 01, 2008 5:00:00 PM
I am a Pro-lifer who, at one time, voted for candidates based on this single issue, until I took a closer look at what the popular, accepted Pro-life position seemed to say.
Protect the unborn at all costs, so we can grow em up and send em off to kill and be killed to "win" our wars against evil? And if they don't turn out the way we'd hoped, it's ok to execute them then?
And what are we teaching our children about the sanctity of life when we endanger other species by neglecting to protect the earth we all share?
That only human life is sacred? No. That only unborn human life is sacred.
I am a Christian who believes that life begins at conception but I also believe that I must respect and protect every woman's life and her right to her own convictions, if I am to have mine.
After all, many have died to secure our right to stand in a free country that allows us the liberty to worship as we choose and to be free to make decisions based on our individual faith. In this sense, being for life is being for choice.
I am concerned about the deep division that continues to surround this issue, and I am annoyed that I should be squeezed out of the Pro-life demographic because I have expanded my view.
By (what I see as) strengthening my Pro-life position, I have been called progressive and liberal as though I can't be both those things, and a person of strong faith also.
My daughter, who became pregnant at 16, placed her baby for an open adoption with a wonderful adoptive family, and I am amazingly privileged to watch my birth-granddaughter grow up.
I will be voting for Obama because I believe that a climate of hope and unity will better nurture support for alternatives to abortion, such as open adoption, and will help to heal this division so we can all work together for the sanctity of Life.