I have come to a conclusion: I am going to vote for Donald Trump. And I think you should, too.
For months, I have been weighing this decision. I wanted Marco Rubio. Then Carly Fiorina. Then Marco Rubio again. Then, for a few weeks, Ted Cruz. Obviously we didn’t get exactly what we wanted in a nominee. Many of us are upset and emotional. Many of us are still licking our wounds after watching our preferred candidates flounder and fail. I understand.
But the primary is over now. It’s time to clear our heads. We have an important choice ahead of us — Donald Trump, who is ostensibly conservative, or Hillary Clinton, who is irrefutably not?
This election will matter. It’s not a game. It’s not a hopeless opportunity to show how principled you are and how foolish everyone else is. This will prove to be a critical inflection point for our nation with irreversible consequences.
Yet I’m watching some very intelligent, moral, conservative people digging in on #NeverTrump, promising to work against him every step of the way, and in some cases, even openly endorsing Hillary Clinton.
Sorry, that just rubs me the wrong way.
I care about a number of issues. I care about religious freedom. I want to reform our broken monetary policy and end the Federal Reserve’s monopoly on money. I want to end Common Core and return power over education to parents and local school districts.
But I vote on one issue — abortion. I am pro-life. I hope, in my lifetime, to see an end to abortion in this country.
Because really, if you are truly pro-life, it should be the most important issue on your mind. If you are truly pro-life, you weep at the thought of innocent lives being destroyed prematurely. If you are truly pro-life, you understand that we have to do everything we can to stop abortion.
And that includes voting for Donald Trump.
If Hillary Clinton is elected, it will be devastating to the pro-life cause. The late Justice Antonin Scalia will be replaced with a young, liberal justice who will never waver on abortion rights. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who is 83 and one of the Supreme Court’s most aggressively pro-abortion justices, will likely be replaced with a younger version of herself. Justice Anthony Kennedy, who is seen as a “swing vote” on the court, will be turning 80 in July.
Four years of Hillary — and especially eight — will forever change the complexion of the Supreme Court. The idea of overturning Roe v. Wade would become a pipe dream for several decades. And a liberal court would probably “find” more abortion rights in the Constitution. There is no doubt a bill like the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, a ban on abortion after 20 weeks, would be found unconstitutional by a liberal court.
The Court should be reason enough for pro-lifers to vote for Trump. But let me expand on this further.
Under Hillary Clinton, like it did under President Obama, we can fully expect funding for Planned Parenthood to double or even triple, resulting in more abortions, and at later stages in pregnancies. Clinton has also promised to repeal the Hyde Amendment, which would allow the federal government to openly fund abortion. While this already occurs through a shell game via funding for Planned Parenthood, this would allow the government to fund abortion more transparently and more often.
Under Donald Trump, we have the opportunity to protect the court, replace Justice Scalia with a conservative justice, and eventually overturn Roe v. Wade. Trump has promised to appoint strong pro-life justices, and he just hired John Mashburn as his policy director, a “smart strategist with deep pro-life roots,” according to Susan B. Anthony List president Marjorie Dannenfelser. He is committed to getting this right.
Finally, it comes down to sheer numbers.
More than 58 million babies have been aborted since Roe v. Wade became the law of the land. 58 million. And while abortion numbers have dropped in recent years due to the growth of the national pro-life movement, we are still losing more than a million babies a year.
One million babies. Every year.
Donald Trump will defund Planned Parenthood. He will sign the 20 week ban on abortion. He will appoint pro-life justices. And as President, he will promote a culture of life. He will make saving lives a priority.
Does he say stupid things? Absolutely. Trump has evoked every emotion within me. I have cheered. I have laughed. I have cringed. I have been angered.
But if we are truly pro-life, we have a moral obligation to end abortion, one of the most horrific injustices in the history of the world.
That means we must vote for a pro-life president. That means we must vote for Donald Trump in November. We don’t have to love it. But we have to do it.
Jon Schweppe is the communications director at American Principles Project. Follow him on Twitter @JonSchweppe.