Pro-life.......or just pro-birth?

Abortion. It's one of those hot topics. People get angry, sometimes even violent, when it comes to abortion and what their personal stance is. Some people are pro-life. Some people are pro-choice. Most people, it seems, see no grey area in the matter. If you ask a typical republican, they will say pro-choice people want abortions on demand, to be used as a form of birth control. If you ask a typical democrat, they will say the pro-life crowd doesn't care what the circumstances are, that baby must be born. Mom was raped? So what. Birth that baby. Mom will die? That's the price you pay. Birth that baby.

But I wonder, are you really pro-life, or are you simply just pro-birth? What do I mean by pro-birth? There are plenty of things I feel go against the pro-life message. There are things many pro-life people do that are contrary to their stance of right to life. Let's take a look at some of the issues.

Everybody knows what birth control is. Birth control can be something the woman takes to prevent pregnancy, a condom the man wears, a vasectomy or tubal ligation. There are even effective forms of natural family planning that involve knowing very intimately your own body and it's signs of fertility.

Do you support easy access to birth control? Do you think everybody should be able to access birth control and at a price that is affordable?

The easiest way to not have to face the choice of having an abortion or not, is to prevent the pregnancy to begin with. The easiest way to prevent the pregnancy is to use birth control. Now I know some of you are thinking no, the easiest way to prevent pregnancy is abstinence. Yes, that is true. But riddle me this. Do you really expect married couples to not have sex? In my experience, it is often the very religious who are against abortion for any reason what so ever. So, if your argument against abortion is religious, how can you say a married couple shouldn't be having sex? The bible tells us to only abstain from sex for very specific reasons, and to avoid pregnancy is not one of them.

Ask yourself why you are against access to birth control, knowing that will reduce the amount of unwanted pregnancies and therefore reduce the amount of abortions. If we want to eliminate abortion, we must eliminate the need for abortion.

Now I will be one of the first to admit there are problems with our current welfare system. But, you can not deny certain facts. One of them being there are children who would starve without their parents getting food stamps. That is the only way those children can eat. How can somebody be pro-life and still be willing to eliminate the food stamp program? Yes, there are those who abuse the system. Yes, there are people who can work and provide for their families and instead depend on entitlement programs. There are ways to rid the system of the abuse without getting rid of the system all together. I don't claim to know all the answers. I do know allowing children to go hungry is not very pro-life.

Other welfare programs that go along with the pro-life message are housing assistance and medical assistance. In a perfect world, we wouldn't need the government assistance programs because we would see a family struggling and say hey, let me help you. Let me give you a hand up. That doesn't happen very much. We as a society are far too focused on ourselves and really don't care that much about others.

How does somebody who is pro-life reconcile within themselves the desire to eliminate the need for programs such as food stamps, medicaid, and housing assistance. If you are unwilling or unable to see the need for these programs, you aren't really pro-life. You are pro-birth. A person who is truly pro-life will want all the babies born to have a roof over their heads, food in their bellies, and proper medical care.

Another issue that I have a hard time reconciling with the pro-life stance is the death penalty. I go back and forth on this so often. On the one hand, there are some crimes that are so heinous, the person who committed them shouldn't be allowed to live. On the other hand, innocent people have been killed on death row. One innocent life lost is too many. I know some will quote the bible, and use Exodus 21:23-25 to support their death row stance.

But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life,

 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,

 burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.

And to that, I say check out what Jesus said in Mathew 5:38-39

 You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.

I do struggle with the death penalty part. Ultimately, I feel as a Christian and someone who is pro-life, I can not support the death penalty.

Being pro-life should be about protecting the sanctity of life at all levels, not just life in the womb. A pro-life person shouldn't be one who is willing to get rid of the programs that help those less fortunate. A pro-life person shouldn't be against the things that will reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies. Don't be one of those people. Don't be somebody who likes to wear the label of pro-life because you think that makes you morally superior. Actually be pro-life and not just pro-birth.