My position on abortion

I'm Catholic. The abortion stuff and Obama and how I shouldn't vote for him is starting in full force, especially the lies about being in favor of infanticide.

When he speaks of late-term abortions he believes states can place prohibitions on them as long as there is...

"a strict, well defined exception for the health of the mother."

"Now, I don't think that 'mental distress' qualifies as the health of the mother. I think it has to be a serious physical issue that arises in pregnancy, where there are real, significant problems to the mother carrying that child to term."
Barack Obama

Here's a link to Media Matters with an excellent clarification on the right-wing infanticide lies...

Wash. Times editorial cropped Obama quote to falsely claim he argued against protecting "babies who survive botched late-term abortions"

I want to publicly restate my position on the subject...

I am a pro-life liberal. I do believe that God gets the ball rolling at the point of conception. This is a religious belief and I do feel it is the correct one. I am also willing to understand that not everyone is going to share the same religious dogma that I do. I don’t believe it to be right; in fact it’s a dangerous road to follow, to pass laws solely based on the religious beliefs of a group.

This position gets harder to take as the pregnancy continues and science as well as common sense both come to the same understanding that a child is indeed dwelling in the womb. Our elected leaders, guided by science, must have the courage to come to a determination at what point life exists, at what point a person becomes a person and then set that as the law of the land. A large scientific panel should be convened to tackle this most important of human questions.

It would then up to the religious community to sway people through varying forms of religious education to a view more palatable with their religious faith. Individuals within the faith community, or open to it, who may be contemplating abortion must be moved to keep their young life at conception by love and understanding based on faith. Hearts must be softened by instilling a love for the Creator and the importance to surrendering to His will. These arguments would be made stronger if the vast majority of those who claim to be pro-life would embrace all life with the love and vigor we have been taught by Christ. This would help to remove the shameful hypocrisy in the pro-life movement as it exists in our modern times also possibly opening these arguments to the understanding of those not of our particular faith communities.

But in the end God has given us free will and that must be respected. Once again, it is a violation of our Bill of Rights to force people to live under the dictates of any particular religious belief. In the long run it does Him a disservice because He is far more interested in what love we have for Him and each other in our hearts rather than the faith we show to our laws.

As a liberal I understand the importance of hope. Hope is what it's about. When you're on the bottom you cling to hope. A poor struggling single Mom or family is often left with more fear than hope. It becomes easier to rationalize a need for abortion when you see no help or support anywhere. If you want to decrease abortions or maybe even keep most from ever occurring it is a must to restore hope.

They need help. Help that can best come from policies that demonstrate real care and real help. Hope can best be achieved by all of us working together, Church, hospitals, civilians and, yes, a large role for the government. Help with the bills, medical and child care. A strong support system is of the greatest importance.

The conservatives make a fuss about abortion being the wrong choice but they do very little about it. Meaningful funding of programs that care for mothers in need during their pregnancy and the years following are not possible within their ideology.

They would rather pay lip service to groups opposing abortion than really trying to tackle all the facets of this problem. They have a vested interest in keeping things the way they are. Catering to the religious right along with their fundamentalist cohorts joined with a skillful use of fear brings votes and along with these votes come more power and riches. These have been used to rage an immoral and unjust war which has led to a raping occupation in Iraq with a growing threat of more military adventurism in Iran and more war profiteering with more instability for our nation, the Middle East and the world.
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What is a Terrorist?
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Prolife is a much broader term with much greater meaning than the narrow constraints Conservatives have placed on it.

under Catholic/Christian/Jewish social teaching...

NETWORK

Fellowship of Reconciliation

Tikkun

Chris Hedges and Laila Al-Arian on “Collateral Damage: America’s War Against Iraqi Civilians”

I fail to understand why religious conservatives believe McCain after Reagan, Bush I, Bush II and the many years of Republican controlled Congresses will do anything about abortion when all these others failed to put forth much effort other than conveniently timed lip service. McCain is not trusted by them on abortion issues so if that is their number one concern then they should probably be voting for someone else.

McCain Is not Pro-Life - EWTN


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