With debate raging over a pro life Democratic candidate for Mayor of Omaha, an office which has no control over abortion policy, I thought I would tell my story and explain why I am pro-life and a Democrat.
I was adopted at three days old. My biological mother had medical issues that prevented her from raising her son. She was living in supportive housing (read a long term care facility) when I was born. Many, including my biological father (who was married to another woman and had two kids) encouraged her to get an abortion. Being a mother was one of my biological Mother's dreams. And in the eyes of some of those around her, it might have been easier for her to emotionally cope with an abortion. Further, my biological Mother was thirty nine and this was the late 1970's. Her pregnancy was high risk, and doctors thought it would be safer if she aborted it.
But my biological Mother told them that was wrong and decided to carry me to term. My biological Mother was permanently disabled, and couldn't work. I was healthy at birth because my biological Mother received payments from Social Security Disability, received assistance with the purchase of food from what are now the SNAP and WIC programs, and received medical care from Medicaid. Those are the reasons I am not, and never will be, a Republican.
Almost forty years later, I am still thankful that my biological mother was empowered to make a decision that gave me a chance at life. I am thankful that my adoptive parents, who could not have a family on their own, got a chance to be parents, they're good ones. I am thankful that I got the chance to hike in the mountains, travel the country as a political staffer, and work on issues affecting the rural communities I grew up in and still live in. I am glad that I got to work to elect Barack Obama and then pressure him to enact the Affordable Care Act. And I am thankful for the fact that it was a pro-life Democrat who cast the deciding vote in favor of the Affordable Care Act.
I believe government can, should, and does have a compelling interest in the promotion and protection of life. On the issue that caused all the consternation around here, that of forcing pregnant women to undergo an ultrasound before an abortion, I will provide some perspective. NARAL and the people like them hate those laws because it makes it harder for them to raise the money that pays for very important things, like thier own salaries! I, on the other hand, see myself on that ultrasound screen and the chance at life I have been blessed with.
If we have become so ideologically driven as a party that people like me and former Congressman Bart Stupak are not welcome in the party because of our deeply held, and deeply personal, pro-life views, we will never return to the majority. The Affordable Care Act will eventually be repealed, access to Medicaid will be severely restricted and people like my biological Mother, who just wanted to give her baby a chance at life, may be left with no choice at all and be forced into having abortions they don't want to have.
If you agree with me and think that pro-life Democrats should be welcome in our party, you can donate to Heath Mello, the Democratic nominee for Mayor of Omaha, on Act Blue.
