My fellow Catholics: Do you always vote pro-life?

Disclaimer: I am not Catholic. I am the "real" kind of pro-life though.

Pro-life means you value all life, from the moment it is alive (whenever that may be) until the moment it leaves this plane of existence. Most of the "pro-life" folks do NOT care for life after it has been born. They're not truly pro-life, they're simply "no choice".

If you look at the truly pro-life countries you will find that abortion is legal and paid for by the universal health care system, but it is exceptionally rare. Because they are truly pro-life they have strong social safety nets in place and there is no compelling reason for a woman to have an abortion. She and her child are guaranteed health care, an education up to and including what would be a Ph.D. in the US and being paid to persue that education, food, clothing, shelter - all the things that the US "pro-life" folks take as secondary or "not their problem". These are things that ALL citizens in those countries are guaranteed. It is the people who go directly against the many bible verses that speak to social justice and caring for the poor and the needy while focusing on the single issue of abortion and doing nothing to address the root causes of it because it would cost them their true deity called "money" that are "bad" Catholics or bad whatever kind of christian they claim to be, IMO. I'm sure Sister Elizabeth and all the other nuns my Pagan/Heathen Kindred works with on a daily basis while aiding the poor and the needy in our community would agree. Then again they - and we - see just how "pro life" most people really are and that's "not at all".

If someone wants to be a single issue voter, they should start with the single issue of caring for the life that's already here. The rest follows almost all on its own in time.

Do not reduce yourself or others to labels. Making complexity trivial is not a solution to things that Catholics must discuss among themselves freely and honestly.

That the destruction of life is an evil is clear. There are times when killing is not murder, but they rarely include the voluntary termination of pregnancy.

The State is generally empowered to enforce the rules of basic human rights. I have no qualms forcing my beliefs about basic human rights on others. That human rights begin at conception is morally clear to us.

That being said, I would never vote for a Republican. That an individual candidate has a position on abortion this way or that does not matter as much as giving the Republican Party the power to make public policy about many things that have complex moral implications.

In my opinion, I am a good Catholic. I don't waste time judging others based on a single political issue, even one that deals with enabling the State to enforce basic human rights.

<<Besides, there is no scientific evidence that life starts in the womb, so voting pro-life would be forcing my religious beliefs on others in a sense.>>

Actually, there is. A newly conceived person has their very own DNA at the moment of conception. This is scientific proof of an individual in any court of law. If the fetus committed a crime, this DNA could be used to convict or acquit him/her.

But as a Catholic, a believer in God, you have better than scientific proof...you have the Creator himself who tells you "in the womb I formed you." We know that life begins at conception because we know that God is the author of life. He saved Mary from original sin at her conception, and obviously there is Christ who was the Savior and known to be so even before he was conceived. So as Christians we DO believe that life begins at conception.

<<so voting pro-life would be forcing my religious beliefs on others in a sense.>>

I have trouble with this thinking. Saving an unborn human being is forcing your religious beliefs on another? Yet, if you saw a woman tearing her born baby to pieces, I have no doubt you'd try to stop her. Why is saving a life a religious belief before the baby is born, and your civil duty after the baby is born? As pro-life Christians, we are not forcing our religious beliefs on anyone, we are insisting that all human beings, born and unborn, be given their right to life.

As far as voting pro-life goes...yes I always do. The pro-life politician is not always as pro-life as I'd like, but they are usually far and above the pro-abortion politician.

Yes, life is the most important issue. Without life, how are the other issues even worth fighting for?

ADDED: and if a fetus is not human at one point, then when does it become human? When the heart beats? When the finger nails grow, when it sucks it's thumb? It becomes too subjective, we could all have an opinion of when life begins. For someone like Dr. Tiller, life didn't begin until the head was born. Who are you going to go with on this?

I choose God.

I vote pro-life and not the least bit ashamed to proclaim that my religious belief is the primary influence behind my political beliefs.

I don't care whether or not my vote is "imposing my religious beliefs on anyone else" because I know that my Church's Moral Authority is Infallible.

Besides, I know that the very people accusing me of "imposing my religious beliefs upon them" have no problem with imposing their beliefs upon me with their vote.

According to the bible (Jeremiah 1:5), God started thinking about you before you took shape in the womb. This indicates that God views you, even if you're just a ball of genes, as a life significant enough to think and plan for.

"In your opinion, does this make me a bad Catholic?"

I do not think anyone should call themselves "Christian," if they do not follow the teachings of Christ. I also believe a Christian should know where their metaphorical heart is, before they decide to follow it.

"Besides, there is no scientific evidence that life starts in the womb"

What scientists are you studying? ANY scientist or doctor will tell you that a separate, unique life begins at conception. It is a cell that grows and divides- how can you say it's not alive?

i believe that the least educated and the worst off financially have the greatest number of children. i also believe that many of these people do not own their homes, hence they pay no property tax, which is how many districts are financed. to review- the people having the most kids are putting the least into the pot from which all the expenses are being drawn.

so i say if you dont want a kid, i sure as hell dont want you to have one

Not at all. It is possible to be pro-choice, but against abortion in your own life. Pro-choice does NOT mean pro-abortion; it just means that you believe that the choice belongs to the woman, not the voters.

No,but if you are pro life vote pro life. Don't back down on what you believe.

a bad catholic but a good human being.