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Abortion as a Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free Card

Recently I had a conversation with someone who claimed that Republicans had much more integrity than Democrats. He was, of course, a Republican. I maintained, in turn, that all politicians were tempted, and that many would, inevitably, lose their integrity, irrespective of party.

After we had exchanged names and scandals for a period of time, and despite the fact that I’m independent rather than Democrat I had to provide all the Republican ones, he said, “Well, Republicans automatically have more integrity because nobody who supports abortion can have any integrity at all.”

So there!

A politician may solicit sex from a stranger in a restroom (which, while really yucky doesn’t strike me as a major legal issue) but if he opposes abortion he automatically has more integrity than someone who supports abortion rights, but is faithful to his wife.

A politician may frequent a prostitute, but if he’s right on abortion . . . He may steal money, but if he’s right on abortion . . .

I don’t even mean that in all these cases these same folks would completely excuse the behavior. What I mean is that they would regard the person who support abortion rights as having less integrity.

As I’ve read around the conservative blogs, I’ve heard this sort of theme over and over. Whatever else I may believe as a Christian, I can’t possible support someone who–cue the ominous, evil-overlord music–kills babies.

It’s an accusation that elicits mixed emotions from me, because I do very intensely dislike abortion. It strikes me as many things, including irresponsible and calloused in most cases. On the other hand, I don’t quite manage to get to the point where any egg which is fertilized has a right to life. Nature doesn’t work that way and I feel no duty to try and force the issue.

But setting aside the core of the endless debate, how do I deal with the idea that this one issue is such a test case that if one fails it, one is beyond the pale no matter what else one may believe?

I use the same method I do on every other issue–I exclude it, and then check. Do people who support abortion rights tend to be more calloused to human life in other ways? Do they have less integrity in their business dealings? Are they likely to grab and knife and stab me to death at a greater rate than the rest of the population?

Ideas and attitudes don’t always come in the packages in which we expect them to appear. People may combine things that I think are contradictory and manage to live quite a good life.

I prefer a very different idea of integrity. Integrity is being true to what you truly believe to be right. Not what someone else believes, what you, yourself believe in your heart. What you continue to believe when the closet door is shut, and when you’re in front of 10,000 people. What you believe even when people are saying they won’t vote for you because of it.

Abortion doesn’t provide such a flag. It’s a difficult issue. It’s emotional. But it’s not a good indicator of integrity. I won’t overlook a politician’s faults because he or she is pro-choice. I won’t do it because he or she is pro-life.

No get-out-of-jail-free cards here.

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3 Comments

  1. Yeah, I see your point about integrity being about what you believe in. But couldn’t Nazi death camp guards be seen as true to their beliefs? Would that not make them virtuous?

    Integrity has to be more than opposing abortion/genocide, but there is a logical point (overdrawn to an illogical conclusion) that condoning abortion/genocide is a moral failure.

  2. Hi Henry – well said. As I commented on another blog: Those who remember the back alley abortions will agree that legalized abortion is a lesser evil.

    The rest of the conversation is very c’omplex and I won’t try to put it into a paragraph: but a sentence will do it. God is Love – let’s find out what that really means.

  3. I don’t believe being against abortion should be the only issue anyone ever votes on. There are many issues that affect us, abortion is only one. That being said, I have voted for pro-lifers as well as pro-choicers. It was their total package that I voted on, not just a piece of it.

    What bothers me in this election is that I like Obama but Obama says he will sign in the Freedom of Choice Act. Now, if he had not said that … I would have no issue with him. But, being that FOCA is the end-all be-all of abortion legislation … meant to supercede any and all abortion legislation at all levels. That is scary.

    I don’t support the McCain/Palin ticket and don’t see myself voting for them, but Obama has made it almost impossible to vote for him with that one promise. I wish he would have never promised to do that.

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