Convention Season Draws Media Attention to Alternative, Young Pro-Life Voices
In an election cycle with no good choices for pro-lifers, it can be tempting to despair. But just below the surface of ratings-driven coverage of the mostly-traditional Democratic and Republican conventions there are many different kinds of movements bubbling up.
One such movement might be called "Alt-Life." Pro-Lifers who don't allign with the traditional small-government/religious-right coalition formed back in 1979. And media are starting to pay attention. Take a look at this list:
NATIONAL CATHOLIC REPORTER: "Millennials Organize to Advance Consistent Life Ethic"
LA TIMES: "How the Democratic Platform Betrays Millions of the Party Faithful"
ROLL CALL: "Anti-Abortion Democrats Wonder About Their Place in the Party"
USA TODAY: "Anti-Abortion Democrats Outraged by Platform Change"
REWIRE: "Anti-Choice Democrats: 'Open the Big Tent' for Us"
DAILY CALLER: "Pro-Life Democrats Rip Party Platform As Most Extreme Pro-Abortion Platform in History"
JEZEBEL: "Democrats for Life Just Want to be Included, and They Have a Good Reason For Why They Should Be"
THE BLAZE: "Pro-Life Democrats Ask Their Party to Open the Big Tent"
MOTHER JONES: "Is the Democrat Party Abandoning Pro-Life Voters?"
BRIETBART: "Pro-Life Democrats Denounce Party Platform Fully Embracing Abortion"
PATHEOS: "Two Democratic Senators Ask Party to Reject Abortion Extremism"
AMERICA MAGAZINE: "Will Extremism on Hyde Amendment Hurt Democrats in 2016?"
THE HILL: "Pro-Life Dems Fire Back Over Abortion"
THE WEEKLY STANDARD: "Democratic Group Urges Pro-Life Language in Platform"
CRUX: "Democrat says that if party goes pro-life, it will be unstoppable"
NATIONAL CATHOLIC REPORTER: "Political Extremism on the Left: Democrats and Abortion"
This is a very large number of pieces, and from an astonishingly diverse group of media outlets. Both NCR and Aleteia? Both the LA Times and the Weekly Standard? Both Jezebel and Breitbart? I mean, come on. If the pro-life movement could straddle these ideological lines on a broader level we would be saving a lot more babies and supporting a lot more mothers.
Perhaps most interesting of all the pieces, however, came from outlets generally hostile to pro-lifers. Jezebel actually headlined the fact that pro-lifers "have a good reason" for why they belong in the Democratic party. And how about this paragraph from the Mother Jones piece?
"It's definitely frustrating," said Christina Healy, a 24-year-old medical student from Cleveland. "It feels like we are being pushed out of the party, but not for a good reason." Healy, a vegetarian sporting purple hair who is not registered with any party, is struggling to find a candidate whom she can support without violating her opposition to "aggressive violence across the board"—which she said extends from abortion to the death penalty, war, and torture. "I'm a huge Jill Stein fan," she said, referring to the Green Party's presidential candidate, "but I can't violate my conscience because she's so pro-abortion."
Rewire calls us "anti-choice" and has made an industry out of attacking pro-life arguments, but their piece drew attention to this:
The Louisiana governor [Edwards] added that though it may not seem it, there are many more anti-choice Democrats like the two of them who aren’t comfortable coming forward about their views. “I’m telling you there are many more people out there like us than you might imagine,” Edwards said. “But sometimes it’s easier for those folks who feel like we do on these issues to remain silent because they’re not going to be questioned, and they’re not going to be receiving any criticism.” During his speech, Edwards touted the way he has put his views as an anti-choice Democrat into practice in his home state. “I am a proud Democrat, and I am also very proudly pro-life."
The pro-life times, they are a-changin'. And the change can't come fast enough.