What does it mean to be ‘pro-life?’
What does it mean to be “pro-life”? Many of President Trump’s most faithful supporters proudly trumpet their pro-life stance, fervently wishing that the Supreme Court will one day eliminate Roe v. Wade. They believe the president’s policies will lead to a better, more life-affirming world. They are wrong. They have a shockingly narrow definition of what it means to be pro-life and are in fact culpable in ushering in a world of far greater death and misery.
On the home front, Trump has abandoned any semblance of leadership during this pandemic. His clownish antics, disdain for masks, and glaring incompetence leaves the world appalled and America ill-prepared for the long, hard, Covid-19 fight that lies ahead. Trump and the GOP work to eliminate the Affordable Care Act, knowing they have nothing to replace it with. Their new budget cuts food stamps and the CHIP program that provides healthcare to children. They gleefully slash environmental regulations, lower automobile mileage requirements, and promote coal. How many cases of cancer will result from this increased pollution? How many children will die? How is this a pro-life president?
Internationally, Trump’s dismissal of climate change and our abandonment of the Paris Climate Accord make humanity’s future more precarious. His 2020 budget cuts foreign aid by 21%. How many vulnerable people in the third world will suffer and die? Enormous sales of American armaments to Saudi Arabia allow the war in Yemen to rage on, a war that has killed tens of thousands, caused a million to flee, and threatens a famine that could starve millions more. Abandonment of the Iran nuclear deal allows that regime to enrich ever-increasing amounts of uranium. And lest we forget the North Korean “love letter exchange” that yielded nothing but a photo op for the president and emboldened Kim Jong-un to add to his nuclear arsenal. Our transactional president would happily turn a blind eye to Xi Jinping’s placing a million Uighur Muslims in “re-education” camps as long as that nation purchased more soybeans from states important to the president’s reelection. It is speculated that a Trump reelection means the United States exits NATO. A destabilized Europe, combined with Putin’s desire to exert regional dominance, has global implications. What could possibly go wrong on that continent? And isn’t separating this thin-skinned, volatile man from the nuclear launch codes the ultimate pro-life act? But that would require that he lose in November. Again I ask, how is this a pro-life president?
There are innumerable other Trump-sponsored policies, here and abroad, that I could cite, but the common thread is that they are all hugely consequential and destructive with respect to human life.
The pro-life community, so steadfastly loyal to Trump, should employ a broader, more realistic moral calculus in November. Continued willful indifference to this president’s dangerous, soul-crushing actions would make them complicit in incalculable human suffering.
And if their pro-life stance remains solely restricted to abortion, wouldn’t their cause be better served by advocating for someone who supports universal healthcare, access to contraception, and comprehensive sex education?