Next Tuesday is the Presidential Primary in Kentucky. On that day I will go to the polls to exercise my right as an American and to make my voice heard as a Catholic. This primary season my choices for upholding the values I believe in as both a Catholic and an American are very few. Particularly in the Democratic Party.
I have always been a registered Democrat but have been very disappointed in the Democratic Party for several years now. For the first time in my life I wanted to switch parties, but because I missed the December 31(!) deadline KY law would have prevented me from voting in the primary at all. So I have remained a Democrat and hope to send a message with my vote.
Senators Obama and Clinton, your stance on the life issues makes it particularly difficult for me to support either of you in even the most minimal way. How either of you, who both have children of your own, can think that allowing the killing of unborn babies makes you a promoter of human rights is totally absurd. If abortion is not the killing of a child, tell me when you thought of your children as children? Was it not until they had actually been born? If so, what were they before that? At what point was she no longer just cells and tissue so that you could consider her a baby?
Yes, I know the argument: you personally would never have an abortion yourself but you would never think to deny someone else the right to "choose." I know the argument well and have used it myself. But many years ago I realized how foolish an argument that is. If you want to be a promoter of human rights for all humans, then don't forget the smallest and most innocent of humans: the unborn babies in all stages of development. If you can't guarantee rights for these tiny lives, what's the guarantee that you will support basic human rights for anyone else?
Just six weeks ago my baby died. To you my child wasn't even a child, because he/she wasn't born yet. But to me and to countless other women who have lost children during pregnancy, these were real children. At only 18 days old these children's hearts were beating, but even before that, from the moment of conception these children were human. Allowing the killing of unborn children because someone has deemed them "unwanted" is not standing up for human rights. It's called murder.
My baby was eight and a half weeks old when she died. My husband and I named our child Casey Marie. We'll never get to hold our baby and our parents will never know their grandchild. If you feel sympathy for me and my loss then feel sympathy for all the children lost to not only miscarriage or stillbirth, but for the millions of victims of abortion. And think about your own children. Give them a hug and tell them you love them and remind yourself how special they are in your lives.
Both of you are professed Christians. Thus I leave you with the following Bible passages. Please think about these things carefully. If either of you find yourselves in the White House, it will not be because of my vote.
Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you (Jeremiah 1:5)
Your hands have formed me and fashioned me; will you then turn and destroy me? Oh, remember that you fashioned me from clay! Will you then bring me down to dust again? Did you not pour me out as milk, and thicken me like cheese? With skin and flesh you clothed me, with bones and sinews knit me together. Grace and favor you granted me, and your providence has preserved my spirit. (Job 10:8-12)
my bones were not hidden from you, When I was being made in secret, fashioned as in the depths of the earth. (Psalms 139:15)
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