- American Voters Embrace Death

American Voters Embrace Death

Written by Ann Shibler

Thursday, 06 November 2008 09:16

Major anti-abortion measures in three states failed in Tuesday’s election. The culture of death predominates, apparently, with another state passing an assisted suicide measure as well.

Ballot initiative experts suggest the rejection of pro-life amendments and propositions were due in part to a heavy democratic voter turn out. That could be correct at least in part.

Except it doesn’t explain what happened in the case of Colorado’s Amendment 48, exactly. The Amendment would have legally defined “personhood” as being from the moment of conception, guaranteeing full constitutional rights and protection under the law to all humans, embryos, babies in the womb, etc.

Colorado’s allegedly pro-life governor did not endorse the Amendment, neither did Republican Party Chairman Dick Wadhams, or Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bob Schaffer, nor the National Right to Life organization. It was defeated, then, by a 3-to-1 margin, helped in part by big money from Planned Parenthood, some of it from taxpayers -- they have a vested interest in continuing all medical, chemical, and surgical abortions; after all, death is their lifeblood.

In South Dakota, pro-life Measure 11 was defeated as well. This, even though it contained many exceptions such as allowing abortion in the case of rape or incest. And in California, where voters oddly enough voted to ban same-sex marriages, Proposition 4 which would have mandated parental notification for abortions sought by minors and a 48-hour waiting period, was defeated.

Washington state joined Oregon in legalizing assisted suicide, as long as it’s self-administered via a prescription from a doctor after a less-than-six-months-left-to-live assessment is made. This, of course, is fraught with flaws in a discipline that is not exactly a science. A misdiagnosis could easily be offered, and patients, especially those who are older or have disabilities, might be persuaded or pressured into assisted suicide, not wanting to be a burden on their families.

Michigan voters agreed to amend their state’s constitution to permit human embryonic stem cell research. The particulars are a bit eye-opening and telling: embryos for research must come from those being discarded after the fertility-treatment process as long as they are no older than 14 days after cell division has started. What they’re saying is that it’s okay to destroy tiny humans in the research process, as long as they were going to be discarded anyway.

Opponents of the Michigan constitutional amendment say that the language of the bill will allow any experimentation legal under federal law concerning human embryos to be legal under state law. So, the destruction of embryos for cell research and any other kind of research will increase and expand in Michigan.

The rejection of pro-life measures is a bit puzzling, given that voters in several states so overwhelmingly chose to define marriage as between a man and a woman, banning same-sex marriages. What can be the reason behind the difference in moral choices?

These moral issues are made complex and confusing by the onslaught of an anti-life media and the twisted logic and philosophy of pro-abort politicians and high-powered anti-life organizations.

Different disciplines are part of the whole picture -- biology, philosophy, the natural and moral laws. But it would seem that a simple understanding of basic biology, easily obtained in high school text books or online, could clear up misunderstandings or outright ignorance concerning fertilization, which is the conception of a human being, and embryos -- human beings, human organisms, members of the human species -- and the early stages of their development.

And it would seem that a person should not have to have a degree in any of the above mentioned disciplines to know right from wrong -- to know that creating viable embryos in a dish in a lab and then destructing excess embryos, or killing babies in the womb, is morally reprehensible and contrary to the natural and moral law.

Clearly, then, Americans have abandoned Christian principles, the most important one being respect for the authority of their Creator.

To counter the effects of this change in the nation’s collective morality and ethics, a renewed effort must be made by pro-lifers and God-fearing people. A good time and place to start is immediately with the Freedom of Choice Act that will soon be before Congress. You can bet your bottom dollar, if you have one left after this financial bust, that a tremendous effort will be made by anti-life forces to ram this piece of legislation through a lame duck Congress at light speed. They have every intention of taking full advantage of the anti-life momentum gained in the November 4 elections.