ZAGORSKI: Louisiana’s Pro-Life New Year’s Resolution

As another year has come and gone, Louisiana citizens have the opportunity to re-commit to the pro-life cause. And if there was ever a critical year for a renewal of that commitment, 2014 is it.  In just 11 months, Louisiana voters will go to the polls to choose our U.S. Senator.

In the coming weeks, we will be implementing a non-partisan voter education campaign across Louisiana.  We will be discussing how the candidates, including incumbent Senator Mary Landrieu, stand on the life issues.

But for now, let’s explore two preliminary questions: Why should we be concerned about a U.S. Senate election?  Why should we vote “pro-life”?

After Supreme Court Justices and the President, U.S. Senators make the most fundamental decisions with regard to the pro-life issues, including who should sit on the Supreme Court, if organizations, such as Planned Parenthood, should receive tax-funding, if health care should open the door to the subsidizing of abortion, and much more.

If we are to make progress in legally protecting unborn children in our nation, the U.S. Senate must be pro-life.

In the pro-life movement, we work tirelessly to educate people on abortion and the ramifications legalized killing has on our society.  We discuss post-abortive syndrome and the thousands of women suffering from emotional and physical side effects from their abortions.

We use every possible moment to convince our country that this issue is of utmost importance.  Yet despite these efforts, I’m convinced that these procedures that torture and kill human beings still remain, even to some pro-lifers, an abstract concept.

An article I recently read published in 1979 by National Review, entitled The True Confessions of One Issue Voter, discusses this further. Ambassador Grover Rees III, a Louisiana native, former U.S. Ambassador to East Timor, and good friend of Louisiana Right to Life, wrote the following:

“Still, as long as the six million abortions can be kept at arms length- even the ones that take place in the Women’s Clinic, the attractive yellow brick building you pass on your way to work everyday- they will only bother you as abstractions, no more real than famine in Africa or a few random late-night murders downtown.”

Back in 1979, it was six million lives.  Now in 2014, it’s over 55 million.

I’ve heard countless comments such as, “Well, the abortion issue cannot be a factor in how to vote. It’s a personal issue,” or “I’m pro-life, but there are so many important issues.  Abortion is one issue among many, and I like all the other things this person does.

Wait, what? Do you mean we need to let upwards of 3,500 children die daily without any political opposition?  Shouldn’t their death change the way we vote?

If our vote is not profoundly impacted by abortion, we fall into the trap of seeing the fate of the unborn child as an abstract concept that can be rationalized away.

While it may be more comfortable to keep abortion at arms length, there is absolutely nothing about babies being torn apart and then thrown in the trash for a disposal company to haul away.

There is nothing abstract about women being lied to by the abortion industry and the genocide of over 54 million children.  I don’t know about you, but I’ll never stop defending their lives: in my community, in my family, and with my vote.

So in 2014, here is our New Year’s resolution for Louisiana’s pro-lifers: let’s make sure that everyone understands abortion as a reality, rather than an abstraction.  By doing this, we can create more “Life First” voters in Louisiana.

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