Is McCain Pro-Life?

"John McCain has revealed his pro-choice, pro-abortion heart." – Alan Keyes

Well, here we go again. It is another Presidential election year and the mud is flying, mostly between Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama. John McCain was criticized early for not being conservative enough for conservatives, but just a week after accusing him of being a liberal the media switched to constantly playing the sound byte, “Conservatives rally around McCain”.

What “conservative” is and is not and what the media does to the elections is not really the subject of this entry though. Nor will this focus a great deal upon McCain’s other controversial positions which should concern Christians a great deal.

Many Christians want to set such subjects aside anyway and cast their vote in favor of the only man in this race who will prevent Clinton or Obama from becoming our next President. There are various reasons given for this, one of which is that McCain is pro-life. My contention is that it really depends on what you mean by “pro-life”.

While people see that McCain has had a pretty consistent voting record on abortion issues (the right kind of consistency), he is proud of being a “maverick”, and one can only guess what he might do or say next. Just from what little I have read, I am convinced that McCain at the least strongly dislikes Christians, and I am terrified of the sorts of measures he has taken against freedom of speech and the times he and those he keeps company with have spoken out against Christianity. McCain has also had some interesting things to say about the pro-life issue.

McCain has stated that the NRTLC has made a business out of the pro-life movement, becoming just another “special interest” group.[1] In 1999, he made statements which would lead each party he was speaking to about making abortion illegal believe two different things.[2] This should really come as no surprise. John McCain is a politician through and through, his many faces are well known.

In fact, McCain has answered “Yes” to the question of whether or not he would reverse Roe Vs. Wade, but what is underneath of this answer is cause for concern.

I'd love to see a point where it is irrelevant, and could be repealed because abortion is no longer necessary, but certainly in the short term, or even the long term, I would not support repeal of Roe v. Wade, which would then force X number of women in America to [undergo] illegal and dangerous operations.[3]

Did you catch that? Can you say two different things at one time any more clearly? Sure, McCain would like to repeal Roe Vs. Wade, but he does not support doing so in the short or the long term. Well tell us Senator, if you would not repeal it in either the short or long term, when would you repeal it?! (Imagine my Mother asking me to pick my clothes up and I respond, “Yes I will. Not planning to in the short term or the long term though”.) Ludicrous.

So while we know he is dishonest on the subject, what does he actually believe? It is hard to tell, when someone will offer such contradictory statements. Let’s not miss the argument for his position that McCain gave us at that same time.

[W]e all know, and it's obvious, that if we repeal Roe v. Wade tomorrow, thousands of young American women would be performing illegal and dangerous operations.[4]

McCain’s reasoning is telling. He thinks that two things will happen if Roe Vs. Wade is repealed. First, abortion will be illegal. Second, women will perform dangerous operations. The first consequence is really pretty irrelevant, and I will not address it other than to ask, “What pro-life person who wants their position worked into politics does not want abortion illegal?” The second consequence, while saddening, is really not of so much weight as to justify the continued murder of unborn babies at the hands of abortion doctors which is still a dangerous operation with some extremely negative potential effects! Let’s pretend that McCain is right though, that he has a good argument. When could Roe Vs. Wade ever be repealed without these results? There is no indication that this could ever happen. Those who place their hope in McCain repealing Roe Vs. Wade should cease doing so.

Every Presidential election year we hear that appointments to the Supreme Court are extremely important, and (so the argument usually goes) whoever the Republican candidate is should be the one we as Christians want in office. Here, as in the areas we have looked at so far, McCain falls short again.

McCain has repeated many times “that he would not have an abortion ‘litmus’ test for a running mate or Supreme Court nominees”.[5] McCain also voted for the confirmation of both Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Steven Breyer as Supreme Court Justices, not to mention working with Democrat Senators to keep Bush’s conservative appointments out.[6] The game of chess with these seats is bad enough, but McCain hardly gives any clear intention of appointing conservative, pro-life judges anyway.

May we not forget that this man refused to be in the Values Voters debate, has mocked Christians, and distances himself as he can from religious groups, whom he does not believe have a place in politics. Since when has John McCain ever represented the voices of Christians?

Perhaps worst of all is that McCain does not oppose abortions in cases of rape, incest, and the life of the mother. In fact, he supports the federal funding of abortion in such cases.[7] Patients would not be required to prove that any of these scenarios is actually the case. Your tax dollars would be going toward funding the murder of innocent babies. That is not all. McCain voted to federally fund embryonic stem cell research.[8] When does life begin? It begins at conception. Embryos are, according to the standards used by pro-lifers, persons who have a right to life. This may now have become an irrelevant issue, but let’s not forget how willing John McCain was to use your tax money to support the destruction of innocent lives through government controlled and funded “scientific research” which equates human babies with spare parts. You may call this nit-picking. I call it evil.

The tirades against Barak Obama, especially in light of what has recently come out about his church and pastor, have been interesting. Christians have no problem calling out Clinton and Obama on everything under the sun. Neither do I, but John McCain is every bit as bad.

This year you will have the option of compromising your beliefs and voting for a “pro-life” candidate who thinks murdering the innocent using your government and money is perfectly fine. I will not take that option. My prayer is that Christians would cease equating the Republican Party with their faith, Fox News with Scripture, and the “lesser of two evils” justification with good rational thinking.

[Disclaimer: I have done what I have had time for in terms of research, citations, and the like. I do not want to be unfair. If you find incorrect facts, then please let me know, but have a reliable source ready. Also, I am in no way supportive of either Clinton or Obama!]

[1] http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3827/is_200002/ai_n8882941 [2] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/campaigns/wh2000/stories/mccain082499.htm [3] Ibid. [4] Ibid. [5] Ibid. [6] http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=59182 [7] Ibid. [8] http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=59187