I found the exchange regarding abortion between McCain and Obama during the debate to be enlightening. This past summer, I posted that the changes on the Democratic Party Platform were an important step, in the words of Progressive Evangelical Leader Jim Wallis: "...in affirming those whose moral convictions lead them to make a different decision than abortion."
The Platform states:
"The Democratic Party also strongly supports a woman's decision to have a child by ensuring access to and availability of programs for pre- and post-natal health care, parenting skills, income support, and caring adoption programs."
The platform changed reaffirmed what I believed about Barack Obama from early in his campaign; he was a candidate who would try to bridge the gap between Pro-Life and Pro-Choice. It makes sense--both sides working together would be the only way he could acheive his anti-poverty, pro-family agenda. It also means that the Democratic Party must do a better job of embracing pro-life Democratic candidates, something that Obama has said he will do. Many Democrats, especially Democratic women, are still wary of that stipulation.
I sense that wariness during discussions about "party inclusiveness" for pro-lifers...specifically talking about reaching out to pro-life folks who want to work together towards a goal of fewer abortions. Many in the "Culture of Life" movement have come to the realization that this can only occur through good economic and social policy verses the use of laws. No study has ever shown ANY correlation between the establishment of a more restrictive "abortion law" and a decrease the number of abortions. However, many studies have shown that abortions decline, sometimes steeply, while in a time of overall economic prosperity.
One stumbling block: "working together" requires both sides to set the larger-than-life shadow of "Roe v. Wade" on the shelf with the understanding that is one issue on which we will never agree. There are some on both sides who are unable to do that and therefore will find it impossible to work as a team.
However, right now I get to focus on the positive.
Yesterday, RCM (Radical Catholic Mom, from the blog of the same name) made a staggering announcement: she and her husband had received their new voter ID cards in the mail with a check in the "Democratic Party" box.
This was not a decision that this strongly pro-life Catholic mom came to lightly or quickly:
When I first started this blog, I was a card carrying Republican who voted the traditional pro-life vote, but my discontent was there. My work in ESL, my marriage to a Mexican, translating for disabled families, getting stopped for an "id check" in LA, my work within the immigrant community, my frustration with deep dichotomies within the pro-life community, and my knowledge of Catholic Social Teaching all combined to bring me to where I am today.
And she doesn't pull any punches on what she believes the attitude towards abortion is in the Democratic Party:
I know most politically conservative Catholics will not be able to understand why I am an active member of a Party which Loves Abortion. And I know, most Dems have a deep love affair for Abortion. You cannot get more pro-abortion than Barak Obama and that bothers me.
However, like many in the Pro-Life Movement, she has become fed up with the lip-service that Republicans pay to Life:
I believe that as Catholics we should not be at home and comfortable in either Party or secular place. We are supposed to work for Justice wherever we are. I do note that pro-life Dems acknowledge where the Party is off and where it needs to go, I don't remember the last time I heard a pro-life Republican say their Party also participates in the Culture of Death. If you want to make change, you first have to acknowledge that there is a problem. And I believe that the Republican Party participates in the high abortion rate by their very hostile policies towards the family (like no paid maternity/paternity leave, no probreastfeeding work policies/no paid sick leave/ no on-site day care support, etc,).
RCM is far from alone and far from the only Catholic who questions how the Republicans have somehow anointed themselves with the "Culture of Life" label.
Catholics United is an organization I've been following for awhile now. They dare to look beyond abortion to other issues important to Catholics like peace, poverty, immigration and social justice, etc...
Catholics United is offering voters a "Values Voter Guide" which resembles James Dobson's in name only. Some of the categories by which to compare Obama and McCain include: Sanctity of Life, Human Dignity, Common Good and Stewardship.
While neither candidate gets a perfect score, it's obvious once you read it that John McCain falls woefully short.
Soujourner Magazine's Evangelical Leader Jim Wallis had a vision of the abortion discussion during the debate that was favorable to both candidates. He saw movement by both of them towards a new national discussion on the topic:
Abortion reduction is the clear common ground that could unite the pro-choice and pro-life polarities and bring us together to find some real solutions and finally see some results. John McCain and Barack Obama last evening opened up the possibility of finding some new common ground in reducing abortions, reflecting the 2008 Democratic and Republican platforms. There is also now some movement in the Congress with pro-life and pro-choice members looking for common ground solutions for reducing the number of abortions that are proven to work. New and compelling studies make the clear connection between abortion and poverty, with fully three-fourths of the women who have abortions saying that they just couldn't afford to have the child. It will be a great day when both poverty reduction and abortion reduction become non-partisan issues and bipartisan causes.
While it may be true that the Republicans will make significant changes, I believe they have a long way to go before they catch up to the Democratic Party. RCM believes that her work will be done more easily with the Democrats and I would like to help make sure that is true.
I believe that the people of this country are heading in the direction of consensus and dragging our leaders along with us.
I heard someone on the radio today say that this extreme "economic downturn" may just be what we need to wake this country up. It could work much like the character-building lessons WWII and the Great Depression gave to those of "the greatest generation" which extended far beyond economic issues and caused them to unite in MANY ways for the good of the country. I'm not sure if that's an explanation for a more reasonable approach to abortion but if that's what it takes to unite us, so be it.
**NOTE**
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Thank you.