Responding to pro-abortion advocates: Bernie Sanders

Responding To Pro-Abortion Advocates is a series where I will focus in on comments made by pro-abortion persons. These comments might be seen in the news, read on various websites, or heard elsewhere. As always, the goal is to be respectful and respond to the arguments, not to attack the person.

Bernie Sanders, the self-proclaimed Democratic socialist from Vermont, is known for his support of abortion. Under the guise of “leaving people alone,” Sanders makes no apology for his backing of abortion through all nine months of pregnancy. Recently in Dubuque, Iowa, Sanders said this:

They [Republicans] love families, can’t stop talking about families. When Republicans talk about family values, what they are saying is no women in this room, in this state, in this country should have the right to control her own body… I disagree.

Whoa, hold up. Not sure I’m feeling the Bern here. Our usual three points:

1. I don’t know a single Republican who believes women should not have the right to control their bodies. Not a single one. I’ve never met one, never read one, never even heard about the existence of one. This sort of nonsensical, pandering statement comes across like a Facebook post from an 8th grader, much like this tweet, where he noted that if men could get pregnant, there wouldn’t be much discussion about abortion. It lacks any sort of nuance, and instead comes across as a blanket statement about conservatives that, if nothing else, is completely false.

In any case, while I don’t know any Republicans who want to deny women the right to control their bodies, I do know many, many men and women who believe that a woman should not have the right to take the life of her children. The disagreement arises when people believe that their right to their body is absolute, which it’s not. This disagreement, of course, this has nothing to do with misogyny and everything to do with defending innocent life, but clearly Sanders doesn’t see the difference here.

Veiled in his infantilized assertion is the idea that Republicans, because they don’t support abortion, do not understand family values.

2. By the way, I think he just implied that a woman’s right to abortion is an American family value. Does he mean that a family is more fully American, and more able to flourish and reach its potential if the mother has the ability to decide which of her children to keep and which of her children to dispose of? What the heck kind of reasoning is that? I don’t see the logic there.

The taking of innocent life is most certainly not American in any sense of the word. In fact, we have long since prided ourselves on taking care of the most innocent among us. Until abortion came along, that is. Prior to that, parents knew they were supposed to cherish their children, even if some of them didn’t. Now, thanks to abortion, children are seen as disposable and burdensome unless wanted by their parents. What a sad turn of events for our country.

3. Back when I was a kid, fifteen whole years ago, family values included things like hard work, caring for your children, accepting consequences of behavior, going to church on Sunday, eating meals together, and respecting authority (amongst other things).

These sorts of values are the antithesis of Sanders’ abortion platform where abortion is seen as necessary because people don’t take responsibility for their behavior. End up pregnant? Okay, let’s erase that consequence. We can take care of that for you.

But a baby is not a “consequence”; he or she is a human life that deserves to be protected. Perhaps instead of encouraging people to neglect responsibility for the choices they make, we should begin encouraging better choices and more responsible behavior. Part of encouraging more responsible behavior is advocating that mothers and fathers care for the lives they are entrusted with, not giving them an avenue to destroy it.

Cullen Herout is a pro-life, pro-family writer. He has a passion for writing about life issues, Marriage, fatherhood, and creating a culture of life. Follow him on his Facebook page at www.facebook.com/cullenheroutwriter.