Abortion: Single-Issue Voting is Immoral

If you respect the very beginning of life, you respect me. If you respect me, you respect my fellow countrymen. If you respect my fellow countrymen, you respect my country. If you respect my country, you are the one I want to be in charge of it.
Now, I was a young naive girl who got pregnant. I was rushed into an abortion by my doctor who said "it is the best way out of this". My parents would have disowned me. Had there been laws against abortion, that child would have lived. That doctor would have been forced to give me the other options which he did not. I would not have spent a lifetime of guilt and shame. I only pray that other young women are not give only one option. The only way to stop the needless murdering of innocent children is to change that law. So my comment is yes, I will vote on that issue alone. And yes, I take full responsibility for getting myself into that position in the first place.
There is a great big difference in accidentally causing an abortion than deliberatly performing one.
Thank you for allowing me to voice my opinion.

Interesting how open-minded liberals, when faced with an open debate of ideas throw the first word bombs. Telling others to "shut up" or calling them names like "dried up old prig".

Why aren't you accepting and affirming of others whose ideas differ from yours? It is, after all, what you espouse from the pulpit........

D.R.

Fetolatry? Are you serious? Is that the best you can come up with? This is THE single issue we need to concern ourselves with - protecting those who cannot protect themselves. Sex without consequences - HA! There is no such thing. Every action has a consequence. That is reality and that is the problem with liberals - they can't stand reality. Elliott - God tells us He knows us before He knit us together in the womb. Our lives actually begin in the reality of God's mind - not when we take our first breath. Stop cherry picking please.

hmm, single issue voting. I don't think anyone would object to single issue voting for hmm- civil rights,slavery. I think he just doesn't like people voting on this single issue.

"Oh, please. This isn't about rights. Its about sex. People want to have sex when, where and with whom they want and they want to do it without consequences."

Why should sex be treated like a criminal activity? would G-d make it so enjoyable if it were? why should there be consequences to enjoying your body and a full rich relationship with another human being? Either you're a dried up old prig who never had any or you're a fundamentalist who is looking forward to those 70 virgins in heaven (actually it may only be 70 grapes, but whatever).

Exactly!
Sex without consequences!
We demand it!

Just like David and Bethsheba………..well…….I guess that would be a bad example……

Oh, please. This isn't about rights. Its about sex. People want to have sex when, where and with whom they want and they want to do it without consequences.

My user id isn't displaying- its sparrow4. I wrote the post at 8:10. Just wanted to be clear.

"I'm also not wasting my time trying to ban anything.....except what the early church fathers called "abortion". Read some of the early church writings of the 3rd and 4th century and you will get a very clear teaching that abortion was set on the same level as murder."

But church writings of the 3rd and 4th century are not the bible and the bible is very clear on when life begins- with the first breath. Suffice it to say I think that's a simpler concept from a simpler time, but if you insist that your proof is in the bible and now you say it dates from the 3rd or 4th century AD, you literally have not proven your point.

you wrote:"If this country wants abortion legal (long term), then it needs to be done the right way. The right way would be an amendment to the Constitution. That would do it, and there wouldn't be any question whether it was good law or not.

Let's be honest. Our founding fathers didn't envision any "rights" that come from God that allows anyone to kill the unborn. "

You have a point- when you spoke about slavery in the constitution. there is nothing regarding the unborn in the constitution however, while it does address other rights we have. Miscegenation was written into law also, but was knocked down because it was unconstitutional. roe vs. wade was about the right of a woman to make decisions regarding her own body. It goes back to women having equal rights under the law- lack of choice takes that away. The act of abortion, like the act of miscegenation was written into law, but since the constitution does not define when life begins, there is not constitutional mandate that gives a fetus equal or greater rights than a woman.

Therein is the crux of the matter. Any amendment regarding abortion would have to define a "child," and that's a road fraught with peril. Who defines life? Who defines when life begins? the priests? the ministers? the senators? the biologists? If we allow for the religious to define life in disregard of science and medicine, we have effectively destroyed freedom of religion and the separation of church and state. this vastly undermines the very basis of our country's existence, even its rationale.

from that standpoint, yes, those who use abortion as the single deciding issue are immoral. Or perhaps the better word is "unthinking."

The insistence on one issue excludes the importance of other even more powerful issues that have far greater impact- the economy, the war, the environment, and more. these issues define the world we live in- and that includes those we bring into the world. How can you be moral if you voted for the man who vowed to stay in Iraq for 100 years if that is what it took for victory, knowing children will grow up to be soldiers and sent to war. If we can stretch the definition of life as the moment of conception, why should we not stretch the definition of murder to include those who voted for warmongers, knowing their children would be sent to fight?

If you vote for the party platform that insists no abortion even in cases of rape or incest, why shouldn't you be considered a rapist as well? In my book you may as well be.

"human life "with full human rights" begins "at conception" is extremist, even fanatic"

I complete agree and support this statement. I would add that it is not at all clear when biological conception actually occurs.

Thank you Mr. Elliot for your thoughtful words and your courage in standing up to bad religion. We need more public discussion of how and when religion goes bad, because it appears much of our public debate assumes all religiously held beliefs are equally valid and moral, and somehow off-limits.

The single issue abortion voters is one of the most regretable side effects of the GOP pumping their rather odd brand of religion into politics. Watching people that support GOP tax policy, GOP war policy, GOP environmental policy try and take the high ground in moral terms is always sad.

Danny R

If all you got is your hate rants against liberals, then why don't you just shut-up? You're boring and nobody wants to hear you.

Lovingly yours,

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E06E3D6123BF932A2575AC0A9659C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print

Note the date of the article.

Among the groups denouncing the proposal today were the National Association of Home Builders and Congressional Democrats who fear that tighter regulation of the companies could sharply reduce their commitment to financing low-income and affordable housing.

''These two entities -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- are not facing any kind of financial crisis,'' said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee.

It will be the Republicans that fix this mess (Bush, Bernake, Paulson) that was exaserbated by the Democrats and these same Democrats run around today saying; "No one knows what to do".
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/09/senate-majority.html

The author also makes a critcal flaw in his premise. That being the assumption that Roe v. Wade was/is "good law". It's not. Reading the minority opinion on the decision is a good place to begin.

The minority makes the case very well that the majority opinion was just that - opinion - and that it was not based on Constitutional precident nor Constitutional Law.

The decision was legislating from the bench.

If this country wants abortion legal (long term), then it needs to be done the right way. The right way would be an amendment to the Constitution. That would do it, and there wouldn't be any question whether it was good law or not.

Let's be honest. Our founding fathers didn't envision any "rights" that come from God that allows anyone to kill the unborn. Any opinion to the contrary is simply wrong.

Slavery was written into our Constitution. That's a fact. It is also a fact that the people of this country realized that mistake and corrected it - not by "interpretting" it differently, rather by amending it the way the founding authors envisioned the document to grow.

Peace.

Congress has oversight. Who has controlled Congress during the past two years as things have fallen apart?

Chairmen of the oversight committee's?

Chairman Dodd (D)
Barney Frank (D)

They were warned by Bush.
They were warned by Greenspan.
They were warned by Paulson.
They were warned by McCain S.190

I'm glad you watched the video. You also may have noticed I did include a link from the very liberal LATimes.

I guess you could say I'm fair and balanced.

I'm also not wasting my time trying to ban anything.....except what the early church fathers called "abortion". Read some of the early church writings of the 3rd and 4th century and you will get a very clear teaching that abortion was set on the same level as murder.

Sometimes we chose to ignore tradition when it suits our political ideology. Too bad.

Ravi spoke about this a few weeks ago. That our politics reflect morality and ethics and our ethics and morality discussions sound more like a political discussion.

Peace unto you.

The blame for the economic meltdown lies in both parties, but more so with the Republicans, who have been in power for 8 years and done nothing to stop it.

And yes, I am a liberal. And proud of it! Stop getting all of your news from Fox Noise.

Holy Nut. Where to begin with all these falsehoods. I may be jumping the gun here – but you must be a liberal, because you ignore ALL the facts.

Lets begin with the current economic meltdown that began with the banking industry. Democrats in Congress are where the blame lies: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgctSIL8Lhs Who was sounding the alarm years ago? BAH RAH. Watch the video friend – and stop visiting Daily Kos to get your “news”.

Democrat leadership is clueless and says “No one knows what to do”.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/09/senate-majority.html

Now onto abortion. Two appointments to the Supreme Court that will work to abolish Roe v. Wade.

Abortions up 14% under bush? Lies. Liberal LIES. Check out the link that cites the real statistics revealing that abortions are at an ALL TIME LOW since 1974: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-abortion23-2008sep23,0,2950464.story?track=rss

Once again we have a liberal who spews lies in the hope of diverting from the subject at hand. The subject is (from my initial comment response) whether someone who is “single issue focused” is immoral.

If the subject matter (abortion) wasn’t so serious, the author’s claims would be thrown on the heap labled “silliness”.

Have a great day.

Lovingly yours.

Dr. Elliot is correct. All of you single-issue voters take a good look at the economic meltdown. The Republican party LIED to you and USED you to get them elected into office. Then, they did NOTHING to stop abortion during their six years that they were in control of the White House and Congress. What they did do was to start a war and ruin our economy. And now they want more money to bail it out. People like Barney Frank, Elliot Spitzer, and Barack Obama were sounding the alarm about sub-prime mortgages YEARS ago, but they didn't live up to your morals, so you ignored them.

And, you know what? Abortions are up 14% under Bush. They went down 34% under Clinton. Poor women can't afford birth control, and can't afford another mouth to feed in hard times. And there's less money available for adoption, foster care, etc.

In a perfect world, every child would come out of the womb perfect and disase-free, into a loving family that is able to care for them. But it's not a perfect world. And, instead of wasting your energy trying to ban something, why don't you start working towards that perfect world?

"Finally, I am deeply concerned about single-issue, anti-abortion voters. I consider them immoral."

Yikes.

a UCC minister declaring me immoral for chosing life and supporting candidates that support life as well.

I guess bombthrowers on the left will always get a pass.

Don't tell me........legalized euthenasia is next......right???? It's coming up for a vote at the UCC G/S in 2009.

No - I'm not kidding.

But then - I'M the immoral one.