I just don’t understand how there are Catholics out there who still don’t get it.
Letter: Which Candidate Respects Life?
A friend sent me the following letter to the editor from the Quad Cities Times by Bernie Tadda:
This is a challenging time for Catholics trying to decide which candidates will truly respect life from conception through natural death. On one side are Democrats who allow abortion yet oppose the death penalty. Democrats favor government programs that will help infants, women, children, education, the environment and the poor. On the other side are Republicans who oppose abortion yet also oppose gun control. Republicans believe in the death penalty and that government should have less involvement in the social needs of our nation. So which candidate or party is truly “pro-life”?
Do The Math!
Everyone listening, get out your paper and pencils while I go through the numbers for you, just to clear up this confusion:
In 2006, 53 Americans were executed under the death penalty. Got that? Write 53.
About 4,155 Americans have died in the entirety of the current Iraq War. (As a side note, the death toll of all Americans because of all wars since the founding of the country is 1.6 million people.) But write down, for the multiple years of the Iraq war, 4,155.
Some people say Hurricane Katrina was caused by global warming, so-giving them the benefit of the doubt-let’s include the 1,836 people who died because of Katrina.
When gun ownership is restricted or eliminated, that will prevent as many as 1,500 accidental gun deaths per year.
Add these numbers up. That’s 7,544 people for the “pro-life democrat” side.
Now, on the other side, let’s put 1,200,000. That’s the number of abortions performed in one year in the United States. Put that number on the “pro-life Republican” side. We are closing in on 50 million deaths from legalized abortion in the United States. And yet those who want to eradicate poverty and not stop abortion, are calling themselves pro-life.
The only way you get these numbers to balance is if you put 35.9 million people living in poverty onto the “pro-life democrat” side. The thing is, 91% of those below the poverty threshold own color TVs, 47% own clothes dryers, and 23% own dishwashers. That really doesn’t jive with my definition of “poor.” So let’s break it down further. According to the USDA, “3.8 million households… were food insecure to the extent that one or more household members were hungry, at least some time during the year, because they couldn’t afford enough food.” So ONLY if you consider being hungry “at least some time during the year” or not owning a dishwasher to be equivalent to being dead can you say the “pro-life democrats” take the cake.
The Pro-Life Action League Will Always Be Truly Pro-Life
Now those of you listening to this undoubtedly know this already. But I want to make sure that you know that we at the Pro-Life Action League will not be changing our position on helping babies just because some politicians are trying to redefine the word “pro-life.” The Pro-Life Action League remains committed to saving babies and keeping their mothers from making the worst decision of their lives. That’s what pro-life has always meant and that’s how it will stay.
