A vote for Trump isn’t a vote for pro-life values
Out of Calvin’s mainly Christian student body,many sympathize with the pro-life movement and the Republican party. Pro-life advocates, religious or non-religious, aim to protect the sanctity of life and right to life. Many will consider this an issue they are “voting for” in the 2020 election, especially if they lean towards the Republican candidate. However, in this particular election, voting for Trump is not voting pro-life.
Trump’s policies simply do not take the sanctity of life seriously. They have threatened life and peace in the U.S. and globally. Downplaying the severity of COVID-19, refusing until too late to support mask usage, failing to condemn white supremacists in the face of the Black Lives Matter movement–all threaten peace and life in the U.S.
Ignoring climate change science and reducing environmental protection policies radicalize the speed and effects of climate change, resulting in longer and harsher droughts, worse hurricanes, and greater opportunity for pollution. This leads to more global food instability and displacement and death for millions of people. Trump’s policies and ideas are just not pro-life.
The Trump administration has threatened the sanctity of life more than it has made steps to save it and value it. This is not a unique idea or radical opinion. In fact, there are many pro-life evangelicals who have come to this conclusion and have committed themselves to vote for Biden, despite disagreeing with the his views on abortion. This is the “Pro-life Evangelicals for Biden” movement which has been signed by many pro-life evangelicals including Calvin University’s own John M. Perkins, founder of the Perkins Leadership Fellows.
We have life here that we are physically and structurally able to protect, and yet the president is adamant about repealing the Affordable Care Act, won’t condemn white supremacists, cages children and families, and revokes the science of climate while wildfires tear through California.
This isn’t an argument to value the lives of the presently living over the lives of the unborn, but to realize that Trump’s attitudes and policies are not in favor of protecting the sanctity of life, which is the core goal of the pro-life platform. In the words of the Pro-life Evangelical movement: “A biblically shaped commitment to the sanctity of human life compels us to a consistent ethic of life that affirms the sanctity of human life from beginning to end.”
Casey Boelema • Nov 1, 2020 at 9:38 pm
Brennan really hit the nail on the head. Honestly anyone that thinks the Paris Climate Accords were a good thing for Americans and the climate here is nuts. The US has been leading the world in cutting emissions and those accords do nothing to hold China, who is one of the worst polluters of all time, accountable for the damage they are doing. I feel like a lot of people think Trump isn’t doing things they think are important simply because he isn’t doing things the way they think they should be done.
Brennan McClain • Nov 1, 2020 at 2:15 pm
1. Trump made immeasurable moves to protect Americans from COVID-19. He shut down the borders before anybody told him to do so, and there was no state that was lacking the equipment they needed to fight off the virus. Not only that, Operation Warpspeed has exasperated efforts to create a vaccine for the virus, and this is the fastest a vaccine has been made for anything in all of human history.
2. Trump has repeatedly denounced white supremacy, almost more than any other President in United States history. A quick search on Google or YouTube will show all the proof you need of this. Not only that, David Duke, the former leader of the KKK, endorsed Hillary Clinton in 2016, and has now decided to endorse Joe Biden for 2020. If Trump is so pro-white supremacy, then why do leaders from these movements despise him so much? He has designated KKK and Antifa as terrorist organizations (again, the only President to do so).
3. Since pulling out of the Paris Climate Agreement in 2016, the United States has led the world in remissions every year under the Trump presidency. Instead of wasting time simply speaking about climate change and the worry that Americans must have, he has been extremely proactive in doing so. The California wildfires are a direct result of bad forest management on a state level because Texas has a very similar climate like California, and more forests than California, but their forest management system has allowed them to resist and avoid these fires, both completely out of Trump’s control.
Trump has radically endorsed the Pro-life agenda, he is the only President in our lifetime to not start any new wars, he has moved a ton of funds to combat COVID-19, the United States has led the world in remissions under his presidency, and he has been super combative towards ALL hate-groups in this country, and he has set up several organizations over sea’s to stop the condemnation of homosexual individuals in the Middle East. Trump has unequivocally been the most pro-life President in United States history. This article is more composed of Democratic bumper sticker talking points than any factual information.
Anna Jeffries • Nov 1, 2020 at 2:04 pm
*Tyler
(and this is why we don’t type long messages on our phones, kids )
Anna Jeffries • Nov 1, 2020 at 2:02 pm
Tim, please remember that 1) abortion rates have fluctuated regardless of president (it’s not as though having a Republican president magically stops abortions and that abortions only happen under Democratic presidents), 2) being a “single issue voter” is something I consider to be, quite frankly, un-Christian in its narrowness and exclusivity—single issues are important and abortion is clearly important to many, but being only concerned about abortion does not give one a free pass to excuse someone of other wrongdoings and injustices as long as they align with you on a single issue—and 3) it is not an “either or” conversation; it is a “both and” conversation. As a young Christian woman, I want to have access to birth control and women’s medical services as needed. That means I support the funding and advancement of women’s health services—yes, even the health services offered by Planned Parenthood. Christians have bought into the mentality that it’s all or nothing—abortion has become synonymous with women’s health clinics like PP and, therefore, the fight has boiled down to political agendas and money. I believe that the approach to abortion needs to be heavily reformed in a myriad of ways—most importantly that abortions are safe and that the process to obtain one is legitimate and neither vilified nor clock-and-dagger—but I do not believe you can justify a blanket opposition to all things abortions at the cost of other vital services provided to women by health clinics. For example, many late term abortions happen because the mother wants to have her child but, later on, the fetus is deemed as unviable for life and/or an imminent threat to the mother’s life. For the vast majority of people, late term abortions are a horrifically heartbreaking occurrence as the mother loses the child she wanted. Yet “late term abortions” has become a fear-mongering rallying cry of many, vilifying the people who have required a late term abortion due to outstanding medical circumstances. As a Christian, I find this extremely distressing and unloving. That doesn’t mean I think all abortion is necessarily “good,” nor does it mean that I think all abortion is necessarily “bad.” It’s extremely nuanced and, while intimately connected, the issues of abortion morally and the issues of women’s healthcare practically are distinct and not the same.
Tyler Warners • Oct 30, 2020 at 2:00 pm
This article fails to recognize the horrific consequences of abortion. 62 million unborn babies have been killed. By sheer numbers alone, this issue should take priority over any of the others listed. While you can argue that other issues indirectly relate to the sanctity of life, abortion is the physical taking of a life. To ignore this fact and vote for Biden, who supports abortion, goes directly against any hope of being pro-life. Rather than trying to justify leftist views under the idea of being pro-life, take an objective look at the amount of life being taken through abortion. This should be enough to convince you that abortion is the most important issue at stake in this election.