How do I convince someone that is pro-life that they can still be anti-abortion if they vote pro-choice?

Question

I know a single-issue voter that supports everything in Obama's platform, but will vote for McCain solely for being pro-life.

I DO NOT want to convince her to be pro-abortion; I respect her decision. But, she judges completely with her pathos, and I don't know how to make her see that abortions will only go down when the women *want* to keep their child, not if abortion becomes illegal.

So, has anyone had this argument and succeeded? Or learned anything useful?

Answer 1

Palin is anti-abortion even in the cases of rape and incest.

I have a very good friend that survived a brutal assault and rape. Fortunately she did not get pregnant. However, that event has forever changed her and will always affect her.  The time immediately following was the hardest. That's when she could not be home alone, heard a noise and locked herself in the bathroom, relived the events in flash backs - where she could feel his hands choking her.  In her flash backs she actually goes back in time -- sees the event, feels it all over again. It's not like a dream-- it's actually reliving the event.



I can not imagine what it would have done to her to have to carry her rapists baby for 9 months -- and that's what Palin would have her do.

I guess  Palin is lucky enough not to know any rape survivors.

It's ok to be pro-life. But you can support it by teaching your children your view of it -- encouraging the use of birth control to prevent unplanned pregnancies, volunteering in clinics/agencies that help women find other options than abortion.  Voting for a pro-life candidate is not the only way to support her view point. It's just the one that requires no work - no thinking.

If your friend had a daughter -- and that daughter survived one of the most horrific events a woman can experience-- would she make her daughter give birth to her rapist child - even though it forces her daughter to be raped again and again every day for 9 months? Because that's what a McCain/Palin ticket wants for her.  

Answer 2

You can't because "pro-life" is a euphemism for "anti-choice."  People who favor a woman's right to choose are not "anti-life" or even "pro-abortion."  And people who claim to be "pro-life" are typically pro-death penalty.  The issue is about choice.

Answer 3

Pro-choice is pro-abortion.  After all, what other choice are they talking about?

Answer 4

I find it interesting that pro-life people are always the ones who are called closed minded.   My Sister volunteered at a clinic that was "pro-choice" but, was told she was not allowed to discuss any choices other than abortion with the patients.  How can you call yourself PRO-choice and then try to stop any choices from being discussed?

Answer 5

After having voting "discussions" with family members over the 36 years I have been voting, I have learned to mind my own business.

Whether you think she's right or wrong, abortion is what's most important to her. She's old enough to vote, and really, it's her decision.

She may come to change her mind in time, or she may not. Either way, it's her prerogative.

You say you respect her decision, but if you really respected her decision, you'd leave her in peace.

Answer 6

People like that are just stupid and I wouldn't waste your time. They obviously do not care about america, they are thinking solely about 1 issue.  My suggestion, leave it alone, stupid is as stupid does, you can't fix it.

Answer 7

i guess explain that the issue may be important to her, but she should weigh in the other issues that lead her to support obama.  the chances of roe vs. wade being overturned is highly unlikely, so she should not vote solely on that issue.

Answer 8

PRO-CHOICE doesn't fit into Christian morality. Why? You already had the choice. And chose to participate in an activity that created the baby, which now has every right to live.

Unfortunately, life is not so black and white. There's so much grey to wade through. See, voting PRO-LIFE also doesn't fit with the Christian morality as I understand it. Roe v. Wade established legal abortions 35 years ago. And conservative Christians have been voting for pro-life politicians ever since, with absolutely no change in that status. Meaning it's an unchanging issue. Meaning all those votes accomplished nothing toward diminishing abortions.

So, the good things brought about by voting just for whoever's pro-life? So far, nothing. Abortions still commonplace and legal. The bad things? Well, for example, our current pro-lifer president is responsible for starting an unfounded war which has cost more than 4000 American lives not to mention nearly 100,000 more of innocent Iraqi lives. Voting for a pro-choice but anti-war person would have still meant the same number of abortions BUT all those Americans and Iraqis who have died as a result of the war would still be alive. (Keeping people alive. Pro-life. Hmm. Interesting concept.)

If you still don't agree that pro-lifers waste their votes, consider this: Most conservative pro-lifers also advocate abstinence-only s*x education. Abstinence-only leaves out the information on how to NOT create an unwanted child if you do have s*x. We are very stupid and naive indeed if we honestly think that we can get all hormone-filled young teens in this modern age to just abstain. KNOWING that they're going to do it, we are shooting ourselves in both feet by not at least teaching them how to avoid the unwanted pregnancies. If you don't teach them how to correctly and consistently use birth control, YOU are at least partly responsible when the unwanted pregnancy crops up. Abstinence-only s*x ed only creates more demand for abortions. Since Christianity is opposed to abortions, we should be in SUPPORT of preventing the unwanted pregnancy by any means necessary.  A large percentage of conservative-to-moderate Protestant Christians these days do use birth control methods themselves as married adults planning their families. They just hesitate to allow the unwed simple access to the same planning.

As to electing someone based only on their ability to appoint a conservative Supreme Court justice: The president can do a lot of wrong in many other facets of life and death while waiting for a justice slot to open up. Even then, waiting for the Supreme Court to change the nation's abortion consumption is like waiting for a drip to hollow out a cave. Proactive education is the way to fight abortions. Not sitting around hoping a justice spot will open up, and then sitting around hoping the case will get brought up yet again... Besides, making abortions illegal wouldn't make them go away. It would just make them more dangerous for the people that have them anyway. For their sakes, we need to educate them on how not to need one.