Matt Bush, FISM News
Throughout American history, there have been topics and issues that have driven a wedge in the culture of the Republic.
In 1865, the 13th Amendment abolished slavery in America. In 1920, the 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote. In 1954, Brown v. Board of Education ruled unanimously that racial segregation of children in public schools was unconstitutional. In 1964, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act that, “prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin.”
The topics listed above, along with many others, became political topics and were argued in the public square, but at some point, people had to stand up for what was right regardless of the politics of the situation.
Today, topics like climate change, gun ownership rights, health care, gender ideology, and immigration all contribute to a polarized political climate in America, but one topic is beginning to stand above them all in its ability to polarize our nation: abortion.
According to Pew Research, prior to the Dobbs ruling, about 43% of registered voters said that abortion was “very important” to their midterm vote. That percentage rose from 43% to 56% almost overnight and by October 2022, 76% of Democrats said abortion was very important to their upcoming midterm vote.
On the flip side of that, only 39% of Republicans considered abortion very important, a decline of 2 points from earlier that year.
Florida governor and probable 2024 presidential candidate Ron DeSantis recently signed a six-week abortion ban in the state prompting White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre to release a statement that blasted the measure saying that it, “flies in the face of fundamental freedoms and is out of step with the views of the vast majority of the people of Florida and of all the United States.”
According to polling data, Jean-Pierre was correct, most Americans support legalized abortion. In fact, according to Gallup, 55% of Americans consider themselves “pro-choice” or pro-abortion while only 39% of Americans are pro-life. This is the biggest discrepancy in the poll since 1995.
Many experts believe that it was abortion rights that caused the midterm elections to lean more heavily toward Democrats than was initially expected. Even more recently, liberal candidate Janet Protasiewicz won a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court by almost 11 points in what was expected to be a close race. Abortion was primary among the issues leading up to the election.
The numbers are clear, Americans are not only leaning toward pro-abortion rights, but abortion is becoming a single-issue topic for many liberal voters.
“Single-issue politics is a kind of blackmail. Single-issue voters say to politicians, ‘We don’t care what your position is on anything else: If you are with us on our issue, we’ll support you. If you’re against us, we’ll come after you,’” Bill Schneider wrote in an opinion piece for The Hill.
GOP CANDIDATES’ ABORTION STANCES
Many people believe that GOP candidates like DeSantis and Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) are committing political suicide with their abortion stance.
“If I were president of the United States, I would literally sign the most conservative, pro-life legislation that they can get through Congress,” Scott told NBC News.
Amongst the primary Republican presidential candidates, Scott, DeSantis, and former Vice President Mike Pence have been vocal in their pro-life stance. Former President Trump and Nikki Haley, on the other hand, appear to be avoiding the subject altogether.
AUTHOR’S BIBLICAL ANALYSIS
Christians cannot be confused on the issue, abortion is wrong. The Bible is clear in Psalm 139, Exodus 20, Jeremiah 1:5, and other places that God knows every man before they are born, while they are in the womb, and from the beginning of time.
The question is, can Christian politicians be silent? Is it more important for a Christian to get elected into office and make a difference in issues other than abortion, or is it more important for them to stand up for everyone, including babies in their mother’s womb?
If abortion is nothing more than a political issue, Republicans should change their stance and they should do so immediately based on almost every poll being done nationally, especially as millennials become more and more important in the political scene.
On the other hand, abortion is more than politics. If it is akin to civil rights, slavery, equality for women, and other clearly moral issues that are spoken about clearly in the Bible, then it is up to every Christian and every politician to stand up for people who cannot stand up for themselves, to fight for the unborn even at the expense political power.
This isn’t about politics. It’s about human life, created by God in God’s image. It’s about giving each and every image of God the chance to live and serve Him.