I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of hearing people support a political candidate based on one issue – abortion.
I’m going to suggest three reasons why it’s a problem to make abortion the one and only campaign issue.
It’s Dishonest
People who chose to use the term “pro-life” rather than abortion, are not being honest – with themselves or with anyone else. If you are truly “pro-life,” then you would equally oppose capital punishment, war, and indiscriminate gun ownership. These are all pro-life issues. I don’t know of anyone in the pro-life movement who believes abortion, capital punishment, and war should be eliminated and guns severely restricted. They are not really pro-life.
If you honestly want to be pro-life, then continue to advocate for eliminating abortion but also stand up against capital punishment, identify as a conscientious objector, and advocate for stricter gun control laws. If you want to be especially serious about pro-life, then you should also work to eliminate poverty, demand health care for everyone, and do what you can to stop climate change. In fact, to be pro-life, the list is almost endless – drive the speed limit and follow all safety laws, speak out against the tobacco industry, seek out ways to help people fight obesity, stop posting hateful messages on social media, demand fair treatment of immigrants and people of all races.
It’s Dumb
My second reason is that being a one-issue political supporter is dumb. You are essentially saying that nothing else matters. “Take us to war, eliminate Social Security, be immoral and dishonest, raise taxes, ignore every other problem because I don’t care as long as you claim to be anti-abortion, you have my vote.”
It sounds ridiculous when you put it like that, but it’s precisely what has happened. We have countless officeholders who have nothing to offer except a claim to be against abortion. We have politicians in place who know they are safe and can do whatever they want because they were elected because of one position and they know you will vote for them regardless of anything else they do.
I think it’s safe to say that Donald Trump was elected President because of his strong stance against abortion. By the way, does anyone believe he is anti-abortion? Until the last few years, he was not. Something changed his mind. We know it wasn’t any type of religious epiphany because he’s never claimed to have one. What changed his mind? Does anyone believe he’s never paid for an abortion at some point? Really. A man who pays $140,000 for women to keep quiet about having sex with him—how much would he pay to eliminate another heir to his fortune? The reason he changed his mind was because he saw it as a way to get you to vote for him.
If you’re basing your hope that a man like that is going to be the champion to eliminate abortions, the only word for that is “dumb.”
It Doesn’t Work
My third reason to reject being a single-issue voter, and the issue is abortion is because it doesn’t work. The rationale, which has proven to be flawed over and over, is that an anti-abortion President will create an anti-abortion Supreme Court, supported by an anti-abortion Senate and House, and will be able to eliminate abortion. It makes sense. Wouldn’t it be nice if all the right people are in place and we could test the theory?
From 2001 to 2007, Republicans, the ones who say that eliminating abortion is their number one priority, controlled the House, Senate, Presidency, and the Supreme Court. During that time, they did not pass legislation to overturn Roe v. Wade. The same was true in 2017 and 2018, and once again, nothing was done to eliminate abortion.
At this point, if you’re a single issue (abortion) voter, it’s time to ask, “Why?”
What else do they want you to do?
Perhaps it’s time to apply the definition of insanity to this process. You know what I mean: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.” It might be insane to vote for a politician just because they claim to be anti-abortion. In addition to the fact that it’s not going to eliminate abortions, but it also means you keep voting for idiots who have nothing else.
After seeing what Republicans have done with being in power since 2001, it’s clear they are not going to do anything about abortion. The truth is that they have found a fluffy toy that distracts voters whenever necessary.
I’m not a cat person, but we’ve had a couple over the years. Think about how cats respond to a laser light. They will pounce on it endlessly, even though there’s nothing there. If you want to distract a cat, get a pointer. That’s basically what Republicans are doing with the abortion issue. How does it feel to be a cat?
The easy thing, and typical thing to do right now is to accuse me of supporting the killing of babies and pronounce a curse on my house. Before you do that, let’s continue this discussion—you have more to think about.
In the same way that anti-abortion people chose the term pro-life to identify their position, the other side chose pro-choice. The reason is that it is always better to be “for” something than to be “against” something. It doesn’t sound as mean. As we have already seen, being pro-life doesn’t necessarily mean that you stand for all things that contribute to and strengthen life.
To be labeled, pro-choice doesn’t always mean that you always support abortions. Personally, I consider myself anti-abortion and pro-choice. What I mean by that is I would not choose abortion for myself (an easy choice for a 69-year-old man who has no need to worry about impregnating anyone), but I think others should have the choice for themselves.
In most cases, if a woman came to me for advice for herself, I would strongly encourage her to consider life and make her choice prayerfully. I can also see situations where I might even lean toward abortion, but they would have to be extreme circumstances. For example, doctors know for certain the baby in her womb is already brain dead, but she has three months remaining, I would be ok with abortion in that case. I’m not talking about someone who simply forgot to take her birth control medication. These are not easy choices, but I do support a woman’s right to be the one to make the choice.
Being pro-choice does not mean that I’m pro-abortion. There might be a few, but I’ve never met anyone who goes around meeting with pregnant women suggesting they have an abortion. I’ve never heard a political candidate advocate in favor of abortions, and I would never support one that did.
The only way to eliminate abortions is the same way to eliminate wars, capital punishment, poverty, lack of healthcare, gun violence, and other problems. It will only happen when all of us learn to live in harmony and demonstrate love to one another. It’s to follow Jesus, the One who shows us what it means for God to walk among us. The tragedy is that followers of Jesus are some of the most hateful, life-sucking people among us. No election is ever going to fix that.
Intermission 
Wow Terry, what an article. I cannot say I disagree with you. I am not a political person and do not have any faith in either party. What you say in this article makes sense, yet I can only imagine some of the hateful comments you may get on this article. I think the main and most important part of the article is the final paragraph, saying we all must learn to live in harmony and demonstrate love to one another. Following Jesus and the example of his life is what is needed for all of us. And as you said, no politician and no election is ever going to fix that.