The Pro-Life Obama Voters: What Do They Want?

My brother-in-law pointed me to site on his twitter feed the night of the election, or somewhere around there, about this. It was about a pro-lifers who support Obama. Then Scot McKnight posted a link to this beliefnet.org article on his Jesus Creed.org This was the breakdown of the statistics.

So what do they [Obama pro-lifers] believe? They are fundamentally different from McCain Pro Lifers because they simply don't believe that criminalizing abortion is the most effective means of reducing the numbers.

Here's the key:
11% believe the best way to reduce the number of abortions is through legal restrictions
87% believe the best way is "by preventing unintended pregnancies (through education and birth control) or providing financial assistance to pregnant mothers."

Just as surprising, is that a third of McCain pro-lifers, and 42% of McCain voters, agreed that the second approach was more effective.

The Pro-Life Obama Voters: What Do They Want? - Steven Waldman

I have stated (maybe not on the blog) that I could vote for someone even if they don't want to reverse Roe v.Wade, if they have good plans to do the "preventing unintended pregnancies (through education and birth control) or providing financial assistance to pregnant mothers." However, I didn't see enough proof of that from Obama, and a few other things. I didn't vote for McCain for the same reason I didn't for Bush Sr. v Clinton (I voted for Clinton.), no vision and a disorganized campaign.

I really would like a two pronged attack on abortion. It would be both of these options. Surprisingly to most, I came to my beliefs about abortion through my science roots. The fact that I oppose all life ending things (death penalty, abortion, euthanasia, etc.) comes from my faith as well. I look at life starting from conception and ending any life should have legal consequences. However, I think that before we can get to that point we need to look at how we defend the weak and oppressed. I think that there are better ways than to terminate a pregnancy when one comes along. I think that a child should be looked at as a blessing, whether that blessing is meant for the mother, or possibly to another if she carries it to full term.

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