Pro-lifers for Obama

I started writing this as a response to this article: http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/viewarticle.php?selectedarticle=2008.10.14_George_Robert_Obama%27s%20Abortion%20Extremism_.xml

As I see it the number of abortions is a function of both the availability of abortions and the number of unwanted pregnancies. McCain's policies would probably have a fairly neutral effect on the availability of abortions and if anything an increase in unwanted pregnancies since he's against forcing insurance agencies to cover birth control. Obama's policies would lead to an increase in the availability of abortions and a decrease in the number of unwanted pregnancies (through nearly universal health coverage including contraception and increased social programs for single parent families). I don't know enough to say which would realistically lead to a lower number of abortions but I don't think it's delusional to say that Obama’s policies might do more to reduce abortions than McCain's. Robert George treats abortion as if it were an isolated issue but it isn’t. Bill Clinton was easily “pro-abortion” as George defines it and also supported the freedom of choice act but abortions went down something like 16% while he was president. Then George Bush was a pro-life president and abortions just went down a couple percent. Abortion is a huge and serious problem in our society and we should work against it but voting for a candidate just because he says life begins at conception is often not the most effective way to do that. Congresspersons have too much respect for their constituents and Supreme Court justices have too much respect for legal precedent to enact a ban on something that has been an established legal right for 35 years when only 29% of Americans want to see it banned. To see abortion eliminated completely or made illegal or mostly illegal would require a fundamental change in our society, one that can’t be accomplished by voting for the right people or lobbying for the right interest groups but can only be accomplished by investing in people’s lives, building up the social fabric of troubled communities, accepting and loving people who are pregnant and single, telling people why life is actually worth protecting, and introducing them to a God who is worth living for and cares about every person. In the meantime I hate seeing the votes of some of my fellow pro-life Christians bought so cheaply. If we start wars around the world over petty issues, if we allow the checks and balances in our constitution to be consistently bypassed opening the way to more dangerous authoritarian leadership, if we keep thwarting international efforts to control climate change and shift the price for our extravagant lifestyles to the poorest people in the world, if we base our energy policy on having the best lives for ourselves now and assume the future will work itself out, we’ve done a disservice to our country and to the world. I know a lot of Christians will still vote for McCain but I hope they at least agree with his views of government or see him as a good leader or something. Specifics of abortion law do matter to me but I think there’s a lot more at stake this time around. If looking for the most “pro-life” candidate isn’t even necessarily a good way to reduce abortions it can’t be the best way to choose a president.