Pro life?

I have been a committed pro-lifer for probably 15 years now. I am persuaded that life in the womb should be protected. I think that Roe v. Wade was one of the worst decisions in the history of the Supreme Court and that this decision has damaged our politics and weakened our country. Having said that, I recoil at the direction that many in the pro-life movement have taken and this blog will regularly critique and challenge this movement for its sake as well as the country's.

Today, I am saddened by the decision of the Republican majority in the House to propose deep cuts to the budgets of community health centers. It sickens me that at the very same time that the Republican leadership in the House is aggressively seeking to address the issue of federally funded abortion, it is also focusing its budget cuts on programs that are proven to have helped the very people that are most at risk to get federally funded abortions. It is counterproductive at the least and deeply cynical at the worst. How does a platform of compassionate concern for the unborn square with cutting deeper gaps in the social safety net that helps women choose life instead of abortions? How does a platform that rules out any cuts to military spending, thereby necessitating deeper cuts in community health care centers, square with a pro-life platform that professes to believe in the sanctity of every human life?

The pro-life movement has opened itself up to mockery and weakened its most important asset--moral clarity. Remember this the next time you hear folk proclaim that Obama is the most  pro-abortion president in our history. It is Obama who has stood strongly on the side of community health centers that provide practical, life-changing care for those most vulnerable to choosing abortion.