Comparing Political Platforms (6) Abortion

You gotta hand it to those Libertarians, they don’t hide behind language, even if their platform is kind of a cop-out. Of course you’ve probably guessed: today’s topic in our series is abortion.

The Democrat Platform substitutes other words: pro-choice, reproductive rights, women’s health care, and justice. In reading through their platform, please substitute the word abortion for any of that. It’s time to call a spade, a spade…and not try to make abortion seem to be more noble than it is.

The Republican Platform substitutes pro-life in one instance for anti-abortion which is merely looking at the pro- side of things, instead of what they oppose (abortion and physician assisted suicide). Fair is fair, so please feel free to substitute anti-abortion for the word pro-life in that occurrence.

DNC	We will fight Republican efforts to roll back the clock on women’s health and reproductive rights, and stand up for Planned Parenthood. (p.34) Democrats are committed to protecting and advancing reproductive health, rights, and justice. We believe unequivocally, like the majority of Americans, that every woman should have access to quality reproductive health care services, including safe and legal abortion—regardless of where she lives, how much money she makes, or how she is insured. We believe that reproductive health is core to women’s, men’s, and young people’s health and wellbeing. We will continue to stand up to Republican efforts to defund Planned Parenthood health centers, which provide critical health services to millions of people. We will continue to oppose—and seek to overturn—federal and state laws and policies that impede a woman’s access to abortion, including by repealing the Hyde Amendment [a legislative provision barring the use of certain federal funds to pay for abortion unless the pregnancy arises from incest, rape, or to save the life of the mother, source Wikipedia]. We will address the discrimination and barriers that inhibit meaningful access to reproductive health care services, including those based on gender, sexuality, race, income, disability, and other factors. (p.37) We will support sexual and reproductive health and rights around the globe…we believe that safe abortion must be part of comprehensive maternal and women’s health care and included as part of America’s global health programming. (p.46)
LP	Recognizing that abortion is a sensitive issue and that people can hold good-faith views on all sides, we believe that government should be kept out of the matter, leaving the question to each person for their conscientious consideration.
RNC	The Constitution’s guarantee that no one can “be deprived of life, liberty or property” deliberately echoes the Declaration of Independence’s proclamation that “all” are “endowed by their Creator” with the inalienable right to life. Accordingly, we assert the sanctity of human life and affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental right to life which cannot be infringed. We support a human life amendment to the Constitution and legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment’s protections apply to children before birth. We oppose the use of public funds to perform or promote abortion or to fund organizations, like Planned Parenthood, so long as they provide or refer for elective abortions or sell fetal body parts rather than provide healthcare. We urge all states and Congress to make it a crime to acquire, transfer, or sell fetal tissues from elective abortions for research, and we call on Congress to enact a ban on any sale of fetal body parts. In the meantime, we call on Congress to ban the practice of misleading women on so-called fetal harvesting consent forms, a fact revealed by a 2015 investigation. We will not fund or subsidize healthcare that includes abortion coverage. (p.13) We call on Congress to ban sex-selection abortions and abortions based on disabilities — discrimination in its most lethal form. (p.14)

Nice try, Libertarians. Government should be kept out of the matter?

It’s already in there.

You know it and we know it.

Would Libertarians say that murder or theft should be a question to each person for their conscientious consideration and that good-faith views are present on all sides? Doubtful. What this boils down to is that Libertarians haven’t considered a fetus entitled to those God-given inalienable rights that are due the rest of humanity. Rights that Libertarians often exalt as off-limits to government overreach.

Typically, I try to leave the platforms for you to assess impartially, but I ask only that you consider the following: Just because science today cannot save a fetus that is, say, 12 weeks, doesn’t mean that tomorrow’s technology won’t.

Ultimately one must decide what he believes about when life begins and therefore when the right to life…liberty and the pursuit of happiness applies.

At the time of Roe v. Wade,

“the 1973 Supreme Court decision that made unconstitutional any state laws banning abortion except to save the life of the mother, the court ruled that no restrictions could be placed on abortions before the 28th week of a pregnancy.“

Lydia_Wavingsm A baby at 28 weeks is just a few days younger than this one (right). This is a photo of my friend’s baby who is now a 4 year old girl, the light of her mother’s life, and a dream come true. In this photo, she appears as she was… born at 29 weeks, weighing a little more than 2 packages of butter. In 1973, she likely would have died. In 2016, ones younger than her (22 weeks) have been nurtured to maturity (click quote above for documentation link).

As you might imagine, the Republican Party Platform goes into a lengthy discourse about this topic under headings of (1) the Fifth Amendment, (2) healthcare, and (3) in the section regarding our leadership in the world. I have limited their statements for the sake of brevity…and equality with the DNC platform’s statement length.

What does God say about the unborn? Here are but a few:

Perhaps the 2 most famous: Psalm 139:14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, 16 your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
During the terrible testing of Job, it is written Job 1:18 While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, “Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, 19 when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!” 20 At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship 21 and said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.”
God gives life to everything living. 1 Timothy 6:12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 13 In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you 14 to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 which God will bring about in his own time– God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen

It is for this reason that many of us who are pro-life believe that this issue is one upon which any others are built.

It’s hard to care about finding a job for someone who wasn’t allowed to be born in the first place. It’s hard to care about education or tuition assistance for a child who was denied the basic right to live to pursue a college degree at all. It’s hard to care about reproductive health for the baby girl whose mother’s choice was to abort her before she ever came to be of age to make those decisions for herself.

Life. It’s really pretty basic.

In the eyes of God, is it a matter of good-faith views on all sides, to abort or not to abort? Seems to me that God is abundantly clear on this one. I believe that if we don’t agree with God on this most simple of theological planks, our whole theology unravels and our whole Christian witness disintegrates. Can one claim to be a Christ follower and follow any way other than life?

One of my friends of Facebook inquired why the Democrat Platform is not pro-life (anti-abortion) when they have a reputation for defending the downtrodden.

There is an answer, but I fear many probably don’t want to hear it. Least of which my Christian friends.