I believe Christian Conservatives are treading in dangerous waters with the way many are spinning the Palin pregnancy issue.  The emphasis on the daughter’s “choice” to have the baby is presented as pragmatic as opposed to principled.  The way I see it, the abortion debate is quite simple.  There are but two crucial questions to be answered.  First, when does life begin?  Second on what grounds is it moral to take a life?  These are questions the candidates must answer forthrightly if they are to win my vote as a follower of Christ.  Let me say at the start that neither candidate (in the two major parties) has won my support on this issue.  Nor will either of them receive my vote.

However, while I have no intention of casting a vote for either Mr. Obama, or Mr. McCain, I do have a few things I wish “conservative” Evangelicals would strive for as they continue to support their candidate in this election.

Stop Giving Abortion Advocates a Pass on Terminology

I am growing a little weary of hearing the terms “Pro Choice,” and “A Woman’s Right to Choose” as acceptable descriptions of people who support Roe v. Wade and abortion on demand.  The issue here is not ‘choice.’  Everyone believes in a woman’s right to choose!  However, the question should be, “Choose what?”  We’re not talking about paper or plastic in the grocery checkout.  What we are talking about is whether a woman should have the right to choose to hire an assassin to kill her unborn child.  We’re talking about whether one human being has the right to decide if another human being lives or dies without any restraint or repercussion. 

Eighteen year-old soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan are being asked to make crucial moral decisions on the field of battle.  Some of them are being tried and/or disciplined because of split-second decisions that violated the ‘Rules of Engagement.”  We are not willing to say that combat is an excuse not to process the appropriateness of lethal action and be held accountable should such action be deemed inappropriate.  How much more should we hold mothers and doctors to such high standards.  If it is a person (and I believe it is at the moment of conception), then all abortion is murder.  If we are not sure whether it is a person (and medical science leaves no room for ambiguity here), then we are obligated to take no lethal action on the grounds that we might be killing a human being.  In either case, abortion is always immoral!  The next time someone says, “I believe in a woman’s right to choose,” ask them, “to choose what?”  Is she choosing whether or not this is a human?  Or is she just choosing whether or not this human deserves to die?  Unfortunately, I doubt that the debates will head in that direction.

Stop Giving McCain a Pass on Fetal Stem Cell Research

If life begins at conception, then the abortion debate is a settled issue.  Moreover, the fetal stem cell debate is also a settled issue.  Evangelicals can no more give McCain a pass for fetal stem cell research (and still call him pro-life), than they can give Obama a pass on his abysmal abortion record (and call him anything short of a proponent of infanticide).  We cannot promote Mr. McCain as a truly pro-life candidate if he is fundamentally wrong on the issue.  We treat the body with dignity even after it is dead.  How much more should we treat  these little ones who could still be born someday with the same kind of dignity.  Would Mr. McCain support experimentation on the bodies of fallen soldiers?  I think not.

Stop Calling Sarah and Bristol Palin Heroes for Having Babies

I think the approach conservatives are taking with the Palin issue is problematic.  Christians are calling both Sarah and Bristol Palin heroes for choosing not to kill their children in the womb simply because the rest of the culture seems to have little problem with it.  This is the wrong argument.  This is like saying a police officer is a hero for not shooting an unarmed man.  That’s his job!  It is not heroic to stay pregnant; it should be expected.  This is a sort of lowered expectation argument.  Sure she got pregnant out-of-wedlock, but that is common; that makes them ‘real’ Americans (this is an actual argument I have heard no less than half-a-dozen times from “Christian” conservatives).  But look at what happened next; they didn’t kill the baby... that makes them super human moral giants.  What grit!

This line of argumentation makes the abortion debate sound pragmatic.  The Palins did not make a tough choice.  They made the only logical choice given their profession of faith.  In fact, there was no real choice to make.  We mustn’t lower the bar just to make ourselves look good.  In fact, the conservative Christian response to the Palin pregnancy actually makes abortion sound like a reasonable option that the Palin family heroically chose to forego.

Stop Allowing Candidates to Avoid the Debate

Perhaps the saddest aspect of all of this is the fact that once again there will be no real, substantive debate over the abortion issue.  Each side will make vague references to the issue using standard cliches and soundbites.  However, we should not expect straight answers, or straight questions.  Nor should we expect real action on the issue.  The man who gave us McCain-Feingold (campaign finance reform), tried to give us McCain-Kennedy (immigration), is on record opposing the reversal of Roe v. Wade, and signed a letter urging the President to ‘reconsider’ his blockage of experimentation on the unborn is not going to be the answer to our bloodguilt.   This is not a “lesser of two evils” question.  Being wrong on the life issue is a fatal flaw.  We must go beyond trying to beat the bad guy and raise the bar across the board on this one.

VB