Pro-life voters aren’t going to have much luck when it comes to the 2016 crop of candidates competing for the highest office in the land. Abortion is a very important issue to those on the right, and for good reason. It’s morally repugnant, it’s rife with corruption, and it’s an empire of death – child death mind you – built by massive use of our taxpayer dollars.
And yet both Republican and Democrat candidates in this year’s election season seem to believe those taxpayer dollars are just fine going where they are, namely the abortion Goliath known as Planned Parenthood.
Hillary Clinton has been an unapologetic, and enthusiastic supporter of Planned Parenthood. Her campaign has donated some $4,800 to the organization, and has received $20,000 from Planned Parenthood’s staff in return. Clinton is an open admirer of Margret Sanger, and has even been awarded the Planned Parenthood Margaret Sanger award for her pro-abortion efforts.
You’ll recall Margret Sanger was a eugenicist who started a “negro project,” whereby she tried to get the black population onboard with offing their babies. We can likely say it was something of a success, as 78% Planned Parenthood locations are located conveniently in black neighborhoods.
“I will always stand with Planned Parenthood,” said Clinton very recently, at a Planned Parenthood location. “It should be funded, supported and appreciated – not undermined, misrepresented, and demonized.”
“Every single day, all across America, the staff at Planned Parenthood is doing extraordinary things, often under enormous stress and pressure,” Clinton concluded in her speech.
So the relationship Clinton has with the abortion industry is an overly cozy one, with plenty of PDA.
But what about the right? Usually, Republicans have hard lines drawn when it comes to abortion, in that they give it no quarter. Much of the calls from the right involve making abortion illegal, and “Defund Planned Parenthood!” can be heard echoing through the halls of every convention.
But the Republican frontrunner this year doesn’t believe this. In fact, Trump believes just the opposite. Trump believes that Planned parenthood does “wonderful things,” and should continue to be funded…then he doesn’t…then he does…then he doesn’t…then he does.
Trump’s stances really seem to hinge on who he’s talking to – or debating against – at the time. The punchline however, is that Trump has a soft spot for Planned Parenthood today, which may stem from much of his pre-political life being a pro-abortion advocate. He says that he’d discontinue funding for the abortion giant if they continue doing abortions, but like all things, we’re not really sure if he’s going to hold that promise. Either way you slice it, it doesn’t look good for the pro-life voters.
So it’s almost as if we’re out of luck if we’re hoping to find a candidate that we can get behind.
…or maybe not.
This elections season’s dark horse, Gary Johnson, may hold something of a hope for pro-life advocates looking for a home for their vote.
Straight away it should be noted that Johnson isn’t pro-life. He does believe that if a woman wants to have an abortion, then that is up to her. However, Johnson has some caveats he’d put in place.
In a 2011 interview with Rolling Stone, Johnson laid out very plainly his thoughts on the issue.
“I support women’s rights to choose up until viability of the fetus. I’ve supported the notion of parental notification. I’ve supported counseling and I’ve supported the notion that public funds not be used for abortions. But I don’t want for a second to pretend that I have a better idea of how a woman should choose when it comes to this situation. Fundamentally this is a choice that a woman should have.”
To iron out this statement, let’s look at the points he made. For one, he’d support the woman’s right to choose, up until the baby in the womb is able to live outside it. That’s 22-24 weeks for those keeping track. On top of that, Johnson banned late term abortions during his time as Governor of New Mexico, and promoted parental notification.
He also supports the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and making abortion a states issue where places like Texas, and other red states can ban it without any problem from the Federal government. From Gary Johnson’s Our America Initiative site:
“Judges should be appointed who will interpret the Constitution according to its original meaning. Any court decision that does not follow this original meaning of the Constitution should be revisited. That is particularly true of decisions such as Roe vs. Wade, which have expanded the reach of the Federal government into areas of society never envisioned in the Constitution. With the overturning of Roe vs Wade, laws regarding abortion would be decided by the individual states.”
Most importantly, Johnson has stated – as he did in the Rolling Stone interview – that he does not think public funds should be going toward abortions. This isn’t good news for Planned Parenthood, who may find their muli-million dollar taxpayer funds disappear during a Johnson presidency.
I’ll state once again that Johnson is considered a “pro-choice” candidate, but from the perspective of an abortion advocate, his views on abortion – and the funding of it – would be considered a bit darker than the other two candidates.
If pro-lifers want to really start chipping away at the massive industry that has developed around killing babies, then Johnson seems the way to go.
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