As the Republican National Convention kicks into high gear, we are sure to hear lots of talk about America’s rising debt and weak economy.
These issues are indeed important, but the GOP should not ignore the pressing social issues facing our country. When 1.2 million unborn children are killed each year by abortion, our nation and its politicians must speak out.
The GOP should not be afraid to talk about its pro-life position. The other side certainly is not. Democrats are planning an abortion-palooza at their convention, featuring Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood, the United States’ largest abortion provider, and Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL, the nation’s foremost abortion advocacy group.
Republicans should be as bold on life from the podium and campaign stump as they are in their platform. After all, 50 percent of Americans now identify themselves as pro-life, according to Gallup, while an historic low of 41 percent of Americans identify as pro-choice.
In another Gallup poll, 86 percent of Americans said abortion should be illegal in the third trimester. Meanwhile, an out-of-touch Democratic Party supports abortion on demand through all nine months of pregnancy.
Overwhelming majorities of Americans want common-sense restrictions on abortion and protections for the unborn. They support a ban on the brutal practice of partial-birth abortion, a ban on sex-selective abortion, and a ban on abortion after the unborn child can feel pain. Americans also oppose taxpayer funding of abortion.
These majorities cut across party lines, ethnicity, and religious denominations. Many Catholic, Hispanic, and Evangelical Democrats oppose abortion. Yet the Democratic Party supports a federal “Freedom of Choice Act” that would overturn state parental consent laws and other basic abortion regulations.
Many African Americans also oppose abortion, which is no wonder since an astounding 35% of the nation’s abortions are committed on black women. The statistics are worse in urban areas. According to the New York City Department of Health, 60 percent of black babies are killed by abortion in New York City. In Philadelphia, half of all babies aborted are black. Democrats often play the race card. Considering President Obama’s extremist support for abortion and the Democratic Party’s obsession over abortion funding, it’s time to call them out on it.
Unfortunately, you will not find these statistics on the front pages of major newspapers or featured on network news programs. If the Republican Party is unwilling to talk about them, the statistics will continue to go unreported, and the opportunity for voter education will be lost. Meanwhile, Obama’s radical pro-abortion agenda will remain hidden from most Americans. Voter ignorance can be lethal; the lives of pre-born children depend on the laws that help protect them.
Will voters learn President Obama has not found an abortion restriction he can stomach? Will voters learn President Obama supports taxpayer funding of abortion? Will voters learn that as an Illinois state senator, President Obama opposed a ban on partial-birth abortion? Will voters learn that when the Supreme Court upheld the federal partial-birth abortion law, then-U.S. Senate candidate Obama used the issue to fundraise? Speaking to Planned Parenthood in 2007, Obama complained:
“There’s a lot at stake in this election, especially for our daughters. To appreciate that all you have to do is review the recent decisions handed down by the Supreme Court of the United States.”
Was the president suggesting that to protect our daughters we must oppose the ban on partial-birth, late-term abortions? Is he really that extreme?
To answer these questions, we need only look at Obama’s position on the Born Alive Infant Protections Act. While serving as an Illinois state senator, President Obama opposed, not once but four times, legislation that sought to protect babies who survived late-term abortions and required that doctors provide them with appropriate health care.
While there is no question that the economic issues facing our country are important and need debate, this election needs a vigorous and factual discussion on abortion. A strong economy is important, but there is nothing more fundamental than protecting the right to life of our most vulnerable citizens. It is time the GOP stop being hesitant on life issues, and stand as tall in defense of life as it stands on the economy.
Lila Rose is the president of Live Action, a non-profit pro-life organization, and the founder of the nation’s largest pro-life student magazine, The Advocate.