Human life and the November election

Before candidate Mitt Romney made his VP pick this summer, there were a few days of “chatter” in which former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice’s name was floated. The selection would have checked a lot of boxes. But Condi has described herself as “mildly pro-choice.” And being pro-choice has become a disqualifier for the Republican ticket.

Happily, these days one of the bottom-line requirements for Republican White House hopefuls and their running mates is that you’ve got to be pro-life. The pro-life position has long been a political winner for Republicans. Polls now show the country tips pro-life.

But there’s a stark contrast between the positions of the two major political parties on this issue.
Our Declaration of Independence explains that humans “are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” The Republican Party platform recognizes “that the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed.

But, in its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, the Supreme Court found in the Constitution another “right”—to abortion. The Democrats’ platform “strongly and unequivocally supports Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to make decisions regarding her pregnancy, including a safe and legal abortion, regardless of ability to pay.”

It’s been a struggle, but the country has mostly held the line against forcing citizens to pay for the abortions of others. The possibility that taxpayers might be required to fund abortion almost derailed the passage of the Affordable Care Act.

We now know those concerns had merit. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ mandate, under the ACA’s “preventative care” provision, requires employers, including religious organizations, to provide insurance that covers, without copay, contraception, even the kind that can work by causing abortion. This assault upon the religious freedom of groups who oppose contraception, abortion, or sterilization must not be allowed to stand.

The Affordable Care Act authorizes the HHS secretary to craft most of its implementing regulations. The HHS mandate is likely the tip of the iceberg. Coverage of surgical abortions, as a “preventative service,” could be next.

Congressional budget battles also touch the sanctity of life. In the last Congress, a stalemate over federal funding of Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, nearly shut down the government. Proponents of such funding insist that cutting it deprives women of screenings, birth control and other services, and constitutes a war on women.

Charmaine Yoest, president of Americans United for Life, decries such rhetoric, insisting that, “The politicization of ‘women’s health’ has almost completely obscured the victimization of women in abortion clinics across the country and the way in which a profit-hungry abortion lobby fights any protections for women.”

The Affordable Care Act has raised the stakes in this election for the unborn, and also for the medically vulnerable and the elderly. Upon inauguration, a president could take immediate action on behalf of life beginning by launching the effort to repeal and replace the ACA.

And, there’s an area in which congressional action is long overdue. We have the technology to learn a lot about the pre-born baby. The dark side of this ability is that imperfections can be detected that motivate doctors and parents to consider snuffing out that little life. Amazingly, it’s perfectly legal in the U.S. to abort a child simply because he or she is not the gender the parents were hoping for.

Investigations done by Lila Rose and her team at Live Action reveal that Planned Parenthood is performing sex-selection abortions. A pro-life Congress should pass the Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act, (PRENDA) which would ban sex-selection or race-selection abortions. This bill, or another, should also address the disabled.

States are constantly passing laws to regulate and limit abortions. A pro-life administration would stop opposing and filing lawsuits against bills that

—defund Planned Parenthood

—bar abortions from taking place after the 20th week of pregnancy. (There is broad medical consensus that the fetus feels pain after this point, and probably much earlier.)

—require abortion clinics to meet health and safety standards similar to surgical centers or hospitals

—require sonograms, waiting periods, means of informed consent.

The next president could appoint three or more Supreme Court justices with lifetime tenure. The right Court could overturn Roe v. Wade and send abortion back to the states. Many would outlaw it.

Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life America, tells her audiences on college campuses, “If a candidate does not support the basic right to life, we believe they cannot be trusted to handle any other issue, fiscal or social, with honor and dignity.” Her generation is more pro-life than their parents. Let’s pray all of them are listening.

—Penna Dexter is a Baptist Press columnist and frequent panelist on the “Point of View” syndicated radio program.