When You Realize You’ve Been Duped on Pro-life
I’ve talked myself out of sharing this more than a handful of times, but I’m going to say it, because I WISH someone would have educated me like this in 2016 before casting my vote for the party I thought I was destined to align with if I was a person of faith…
This year, I’m voting pro-life. But to be clear, I will not fixate on the unborn. Because you know who else has a heartbeat after 18 days?
The 22+ million humans (including myself) utilizing government insurance, including half a million veterans, that may be eliminated after this election
The 50–129 million Americans with pre-existing conditions who may lose health insurance coverage, if overturned
The 200,000+ precious humans who lost their lives to coronavirus with loved ones being forced to say goodbye through an iPhone — and for the lives that we’ll continue to lose without proper responses
The 433,648 children, teens, and adults who are sexually assaulted every year and need communities who believe them, support rapid rape kit testing, denounce sexual harassment, and hold assaulters accountable
Women who are paid 18% less than men for the same job. It’s even less for Black, Native American, and Hispanic women
The 15,381 humans who lost their lives in the 417 mass shootings in 2019 because of America’s loose gun policies
Our children whose quality of education is based on property tax value in the area of their school, ensuring that wealthy neighborhoods get better resources and poor neighborhoods get poorer resources
The 545 babies and children at the border whose parents cannot be located because of Trump’s administrative decision to separate families with horrendous tracking
The LGBTQ+ youth who are FIVE times more likely to attempt suicide than heterosexual teens
The nearly 1.5 million Americans imprisoned without serious paths for rehabilitation and almost a guaranteed ticket right back behind bars
The 11–20% of veterans returning home with diagnosed Posttraumatic Stress Disorder with little support for mental health treatment and healing
The 89 law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty in 2019 along with the black men who’s chances are 1 in 1,000 of being killed by the police in their lifetime
The 30% of the US population who identify with a religion other than Christianity who have the American right to live out their faith safely in this country
The 25 trans and non-binary humans murdered violently in 2019
The 26, 256 people in gay marriages whose unions continue to be put up for debate — unlike straight marriages that have never been in jeopardy (this means, they aren’t entitled to benefits post-death, aren’t considered next of kin in medical situations to make decisions, aren’t both immediately — legally — considered parents to a child birthed by one of the partners, etc.)
College graduates who owe, on average, $32,731 in debt while they pursue an education to make themselves and this country a better place
Our children and their children who need us to take better care of this planet so there’s a safe place to live
The gay parents who long to foster and adopt children when repeated studies demonstrate the positive impacts that a loving home with two same-sex parents offer
The 2+ million girls and women who receive STI testing & treatment, cancer screenings, pregnancy tests, prenatal care, and contraceptives from Planned Parenthood, leaving just 3% of their services completed to abortions
Shall I go on?
Pro-birthers, I understand your fixation on the innocent and the unborn — that was me, too. It’s specifically what you’re indoctrinated to believe, especially if you’re a person of Christian faith in this country. However, with love, it’s a cop out, and it’s an excuse to not take responsibility for the suffering you enable to those who are living. When you vote pro-birth, you vote against everything listed above because the two dominant parties in the US are opposing in nearly every issue I address.
To withdraw funding from organizations who offer sex education and birth control, then force a woman to give birth to a child she knows she isn’t prepared for, then reject all services to help her care for that child is not just insensitive; it’s cruel and inhumane. It’s not pro-life.
To deny women, who have other children at home who love and need her, the right to end a pregnancy that may kill her and leave her other children mother-less is cruel and inhumane. It’s not pro-life.
This year, I’m voting pro-life, particularly for all the lives who are already here, and my vote for Biden and Harris this election will reflect that.
Sources for the data above:
Trevor Project, Human Rights Campaign, CBS News, Today.com, Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC.gov), Center on Budget and Policy Priotries (CBPP.org), Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS.gov), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the U.S.A. (PNAS.org), Washington Post, National Public Radio, Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Dept of Veterans Affairs (VA.gov)
