Voting Pro Life in November: A Tough Choice

I want to vote pro life in November. I'm looking to support candidates who want to create better options than abortion for men and women who feel that an abortion is the solution to an unwanted pregnancy. Some candidates articulate this fundamentally important view on a significant matter of public concern better than other candidates.

Pro life voters have a difficult top of the ticket choice to make this year.

Jim Longley is running as a Republican. I've enjoyed many interesting conversations with Jim on this issue, and a multitude of other important matters. He is a thoughtful, hard working man who would listen well and do a fine job for Maine as Governor. However, the Republican party, Jim's party (and my party by registration), is not a political home in which I have been comfortable in recent years.

While the Republican convention's support for the ban on partial birth abortion this spring was encouraging, the raw pragmatism and continuing dominance of pro-abortion, anti-family interests discourages me. And, while the Democratic party publicly defended homosexual activists when thousands of Maine citizens achieved the impossible, presenting 60,000 signatures to veto homosexual rights, we heard nothing from the Republican party. Have the Republicans moderated the heart out of their party?

While Jim Longley wants to ban partial birth abortion, provide for parental consent and a 24 hour waiting period ˜ he indicates in our voters guide that he is not sure whether current Maine law on abortion is acceptable. It is, of course, unacceptable. Jim says that he is pro choice but may have the best chance of beating the incumbent in November. He and Bill Clarke are the only candidates who want to ban partial birth abortion.

In 1994 candidate Angus King visited with the League, opposed gambling and talked about conservative ideas including his faith and family. He is pro-abortion and pro-homosexual rights.

Taking into consideration a wide range of issues, money available for a campaign and public support, King may be an appropriate political choice. He's a good listener and stands by his convictions. I've worked with him, and against him. He has won some, and lost some. We've both matured through the experiences. God willing, I will continue my dialog with him on the theological and political aspects of homosexuality. In March of this year he told me that he will not sign a homosexual rights bill unless it includes a referendum provision.

Angus King supports abortion rights.

Democratic candidate, Tom Connolly, is pro-abortion, as is Green candidate Pat LaMarche. Connolly told the League that he favors the right to partial birth abortion while he does not favor doctor assisted suicide. Additionally, Connolly has far and away the best position on alcohol. More about that in another column.

Nearly 2500 babies are killed each year in Maine by abortion. Most abortions are not necessary ˜ they are chosen by men and women (it takes a man and woman to make a baby, not just a woman) who feel trapped by the pregnancy. Individuals, reasoning based on the "right to choose" do not encounter, with significant moral suasion, the weighty moral and ethical questions surrounding their choice. If you knew that five people a year were killed in your town because they weren't wanted would you be concerned ˜ would you be outraged?

Of course you would be. You would want to convene a study group to examine the situation, pull together community leaders, and develop a plan to change things so that these five killings didn't take place next year. Actually, you would probably bypass the study group and just call the police.

The real tragedy is that there is no such thing as an unwanted baby. Parents are waiting in line to adopt. Why don't men and women who become pregnant either keep the baby, or put him/her up for adoption? Because the pregnancy ˜ the process ˜ is emotionally and physically grueling. God made it that way. It's a reminder to be sexually responsible.

Perhaps a common sense approach to abortion, like the one I'm suggesting, would have helped Bill Clinton. His sexual urges overwhelmed his good sense. If society's attitudes toward sexuality were different, perhaps our President would be different?

Bill Clarke is one candidate who understands the significance of abortion. He wants to make it illegal and help Maine's men and women make better moral, ethical and sexual choices. While Bill, representing the U.S. Taxpayers Party, is a real longshot in November, he will remind Angus, Jim, Tom and Pat of the moral, social and cultural importance of this issue. Prayerfully, his efforts will also reach the public.

Bill Clarke is pro life.

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