Why I am Pro-Life, and Why You Should Be Too

[dissent1977]

I am pro-life because I believe that it is wrong to drop bombs on innocent people in Iraq and elsewhere.

I am pro-life because I oppose the death penalty.

I am pro-life because I want a clean environment, because it is the Earth that supports all life.

I am pro-life because I believe that corporations should be held accountable when they harm people.

I am pro-life because I oppose shipping jobs overseas to countries which actually FORCE their female employees to have abortions if they become pregnant.

I am pro-life because I support universal health coverage.

I am pro-life because I believe that we should provide food to those who are hungry, and shelter for those who need homes.

I am pro-life because I support a living wage, which will allow people to provide for their families.

I am pro-life because I support the use and wide distribution of contraceptives, which serve the dual purpose of keeping the population in line and preventing unwanted pregnancies.

And I am pro-life because I support a woman's right to choose, yet want to work to find real solutions to eliminate the need for abortions. I realize that outlawing abortion will not end abortions, it will only push them into back alleys. I am pro-life because I can see the pain that abortions bring, yet work to deal with them in a way that does not infringe a woman's right to choose.

It is time that we took the words "pro-life" back. After all wouldn't you all love to hear Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Hannity, Coulter, and all the rest of those hypocrites screaming when we start calling ourselves pro-life?

[TimeChaser]

1. I love it

Can I save it and show it to people? :)

[dissent1977]

8. Please do so

[kittenpants]

2. no, you've confused your terms...

pro-life only applies to the unborn & snowflake babies. I believe the term for what you are is "liberal pussy.":)

[flygal]

25. ..........

:rofl:

[tk2kewl]

35. Ha!

:rofl:

[ieoeja]

54. I'm pro liberal pussy n/t

[Inland]

55. That's the term Gallup uses.....

As in "We took a poll of Liberal Pussies and 84% of Liberal Pussies oppose the Iraq war". It's scientific.

[friesianrider]

3. I'm pro-life for animals.

Aren't they God's miracles too? Anything that takes a breath on this Earth is one of God's children. How many of those pro-lifers are vegetarians?

[dissent1977]

4. I agree with you fully

I am a vegetarian myself.

[FreedomAngel82]

14. Yes

God also talked to Adam about taking care of the animals in the beginning but also you can eat them. I'm not a big fan of hunting but I know we have to have meat in our systems for what meat pocesses that our body needs. The only time I could ever kill an animal is if I was going to survive off it.

[Mythsaje]

36. I don't hunt

but I understand the necessity--as much for their sake as our own. Once we'd eliminated most of the predators, the larger game animals populations became unstable, and made them prey to disease and starvation in such a way that they'd never been before.

It sucks, but there it is.

[friesianrider]

57. I don't think God ever said WE were allowed to eat them...

But even if he did, God definitely didn't give us permission to kill them in the way they are killed today - go look up video from the kill floor of a slaughterhouse. It's totally common for cows to live for 3-6 minutes after their throats were slashed and their tracheas are ripped out - literally - by hand. Before they're killed, they are trucked across the country like sardines in metal truck-containers, where many are killed in transit due to being stomped on by other cows, injury from the truck motion, or dehydration/starvation (why feed or water them? They're going to slaughter anyway?) Factory farming and mass slaughter is totally morally reprehensible and wrong. There is no excuse for it. If someone really loves meat so much I suggest they raise their own animals and slaughter them themselves. Or better yet, watch some video from a slaughterhouse kill floor every other day or so. As Paul McCartney said, "if slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian."

Also, no one "needs" meat to survive or even live healthy. I never ate meat (even fish) in my life and I'm 22 years old and healthier than 90% of my friends who DO eat meat regularly. The benefits of a vegetarian/vegan diet are so numerous, please don't believe the blabber from the meat industry that you "need" to eat animal corpses to live healthy. I just couldn't eat meat of the basic principle that you're eating pure and total misery.

"Think occasionally of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight."
~Dr. Albert Schweitzer

[flvegan]

33. Funny how "pro-lifers" (in the currently accepted definition) only care

about the unborn fetus. Whenever I'm at a protest, and some fundie tells me to go work for the unborn children, I tell him/her that I'm pro-ALL-life, people and animals. They immediately shut up. I usually close with a statement that it takes more than a bumper sticker to enact change.

I love the original post. It sums me up perfectly. And yeah, I'm a vegan, obviously.

[kath]

63. yep, I call them the "fetus people".

[justinsb]

69. I'm vegetarian too...

But you need to revise your definition - plants breathe, they just do it backwards.

[friesianrider]

74. I didn't "define" anything...

All I said was that anything that takes a breath on this Earth is one of God's children - including plants. I never excluded plants from that...?

[nicknameless]

72. All life feels pain when killed -- including fruit and vegetables.

They scream when cut, tossed into boiling water, etc.
Read The Secret Life of Plants.
It's a sad, unfortunate fact of life. We must consume other living things in order to sustain our own lives.
The answer is respect and gratitude to all living things that give their lives so that we might be nourished and strengthened.

[friesianrider]

73. I don't think, even by the wildest stretch of imagination...

You can compare the feelings of pain by an animal to those of plants. I too have heard the same things about plants so I'm not arguing with you, but I think it's pretty well understood that animals, with a heart, etc have different feelings towards pain that plants feel "pain."

I agree, that no matter what we must kill to nourish ourselves, it should be done with respect for that life, and done in a way that minimizes or eliminates suffering. I believe the Indians did something like that - they always expressed gratitude for any animal they killed to eat. And they always performed the killing in a way that was quick and respected the life of the animal. DEFINITELY not what happened to the cow that gave its life for you to eat a hamburger or the chicken for that chicken salad.

[nicknameless]

75. How would any human being know what plant pain is like?

We can relate to animal pain more than we can plant pain, but who is to say that plant pain is different or less? How would anyone know? Most people tend to dismiss whatever it is that they don’t understand. I don’t feel I have the right to discount pain that plants feel.

The meat industry overall is appalling. Going organic, kosher, etc. is a small step in the right direction. ... Again, respect and gratitude seem to me to be the key.

[Maat]

5. Very well put!

Yes, please do give us permission to quote you, and spread this around!

[dissent1977]

7. Spread it all you want

[SiouxJ]

38. Thank you

I would like to use it too. :thumbsup:

[dissent1977]

50. You are more than welcome to use it, along with anyone else

I have been getting several people asking if they could post this on their blog or distributing it in any other means. My answer to everyone is yes, I don't care if you want to read it on national television any way that you want to distribute it is fine with me.

[SiouxJ]

58. Posted it on my website

also sent it to some friends who loved it so much they are passing it along as well. Thanks again!

[Maat]

48. Thanks! (n/t)

[silverweb]

6. Very nice.

Thank you for articulating that so very well.

:)

[Rowdyboy]

9. Very nicely put...

Thanks :thumbsup:

[Booster]

10. Thanks for this. I didn't realize I AM pro-life, even though I

believe in choice. I'm getting that t-shirt that says "I'm confused: no wait, maybe I'm not". Sort of sums up my thinking lately.

[FreedomAngel82]

15. I'm personally both

I used to be just pro-choice but then started seeing how I'm both. I know what I need to do to reduce abortion but I know in the end it's not my decision. So it's fine to be both I think.

[dissent1977]

11. Alright somebody already added animal rights to the list

Does anyone else have any other points they would add?

[Shredr]

12. Beautifully put. n/t

[FreedomAngel82]

13. Hell yeah!

Pro-life isn't just saying "oh I'm pro-life and lets save the fetus'!" Pro-life is actually CARING about ACTUAL living and breathing human beings. I'm both pro-life and pro-choice. Why? I'm pro-life for the reason's the original poster presented. I'm also pro-choice because I know that God gave us freewill and we can make our own decisions and to respect the decisions and deal with the consequences.

[dissent1977]

70. That is exactly the point I was trying to make

There is no reason that you can not be both pro-life and pro-choice.

I chose to put extra emphasis on the words "pro-life" however, because I have heard far too many progressives say they are not pro-life when in fact they are.

I think this is one of the reasons progressive candidates lose elections, because they are afraid to use the words that the right-wing has tried to set up a monopoly on.

Just think about what progressive candidates could do in a debate if they were to bring up all the reasons they are pro-life and then point to the fundie candidate and say, "You support the slaughter of innocents in Iraq, you support the death penalty, you are NOT pro-life". They would go so crazy their heads would explode, and more importantly we would get people to think about what the words pro-life really mean.

[Hello_Kitty]

16. Very nice. Thank you.

Gotta be consistent in your life ethics.

[lakeguy]

17. hey, i guess i'm pro-life too!!

[AwakeAtLast]

18. This is great!

I will be sending this on and keeping it in my files until another freeper acquaintance sends me another chain e-mail. :grr: Can't stand those things!!!

Thanks again! :hi:

[Kenergy]

19. Good post! n/t

[alittlelark]

20. I bookmarked this thread. I will send it to RW whacko list AM

Very good job!!!:D

[dissent1977]

21. If you get any responses let me know, I would love to hear their reactions

[Name removed]

22. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Crunchy Frog]

24. I'm pro-American because

I oppose freeper scum with every fiber of my being and will do whatever it takes to stop them from destroying this beautiful country and its freedoms.

[dissent1977]

71. You removed the freeper post before I had a chance to read it

If anyone is able to access the post, could you please mail it to me. I love listening to the freepers go on a rampage, it always gives me a good laugh.

[Crunchy Frog]

76. It was a doozy. Sorry I didn't save a copy of it.

Basically, it was a long list of "I'm pro-American because (insert RW talking point), done in the same style as the OP, but with a radically different content.

Next time I see a good one, I'll be sure and save it in case someone wants to see it after it's been deleted.:)

[DemBones DemBones]

23. I am pro-life and I like your post. I went

along with the pro-choice movement for years but I was always uncomfortable about it.

"If I oppose war and capital punishment, why do I support legalized abortion?" was the question that kept running through my mind.

But, as you say, the way to "end" (or at least substantially reduce) abortion is to change people's hearts and minds about it -- and help them get access to contraception. When people believe that abortion merely destroys "a few cells," it's obvious that people aren't well-educated about prenatal development. And we know people aren't well-educated about contraception. This ignorance about pregnancy and contraception leads to over a million abortions a year. It's time for a change.

[NMMNG]

26. It's a crying shame I can only recommend a post once

Because this one deserves multiples :yourock:

[B Calm]

27. I recommended it too.

[lostnfound]

28. ...prolife because I believe napalm should exist only in history books. nt

[lostnfound]

29. ..prolife because I KNOW that every Gitmo tortured prisoner & torturer

once had a mother, once was a baby boy who was bathed and fed, held and cared for -- and that it is a SACRILEGE against LIFE that the subject of such attention, a small boy, would grow up to be abused or degraded by waterboarding, electric shock, invisible captivity, or other forms of torture.

I am prolife because I want a government that doesn't condone torture.

[Pacifist Patriot]

30. Excellent

I've been doing that for awhile now. I refuse to call "pro-lifers" by their self-chosen moniker. They are anti-choice. Their stance on abortion has absolutely nothing to do with a broader value for life in general. You are soooo dead on. Thank you!

[WePurrsevere]

64. Same here...

and I do so enjoy to watch their fish impressions when I explain why and how I'm prolife. :D

[scarletlib]

31. excellent

I am pro life too for all of these things.

[Deja Q]

32. Bingo! Nominated!

:yourok:

[Vinca]

34. Well said.

The so-called "culture of life" is really a "culture of greed" with every move planned to win elections, fill bank accounts or both.

[yellerpup]

37. Great argument!

I'll be quoting you often. Thanks.

[Toots]

39. Very few on the right are Pro Life.. they are Anti-Abortion

They are pro gun, pro tobacco, pro death penalty, pro war, pro everything that causes death to all that inhabit the earth but they are most definitely not Pro Life

[dissent1977]

40. They are not even anti-abortion

As I mentioned in my original post, many of them support shipping jobs off to countries in which employers can legally force their employees to have abortions if they become pregnant. Plus there is that whole issue of mercury in the water supply. As we all know mercury is extremely dangerous for the unborn fetus, yet these people want to allow more of it in the water. They are hypocrites who are just using the abortion issue to get elected.

[kath]

66. Actually, they are Anti-Sex. They especially can't stand the concept

that a WOMAN might enjoy sex.

At the root of pretty much all fundamentalist forms of religion is a fear/hatred of female sexuality.

[XemaSab]

41. Word

Kicked and Nominated

[UrbScotty]

42. Nominated, bookmarked, etc.!

Good for you!

[TBreeze]

43. I agree, well said

:applause:

[BurtWorm]

44. I'm pro-life because I believe this life on earth is the only one we know

about. Amazing that a party of people who are waiting for life after death call themselves "pro-life."

[soleft]

45. Beautiful. Just beautiful

Thank you for giving me words to express how I feel.

[Midlodemocrat]

46. Great, great post.

You said what I have been feeling in far more eloquent words than I could have. Thanks.

[melv]

47. excellent

I'll be forwarding it...

[mzmolly]

49. Great post!

:toast:

[mbee]

51. That is beautiful so is it O.K. to widely distribute this

to friends family and strangers?

[dissent1977]

52. Yes, it is perfectly fine to do so

I will say it again, no matter who you are you have the right to use this. I don't care if you e-mail it to your friends or publish it in a book. It doesn't matter to me, I am much more concerned about taking this country back than I am about fighting for my "intellectual property rights". So yes, feel free to distribute this as widely as you see fit.

[nashville_brook]

53. this is so beautiful -- thank you for kicking off the weekend w/a smile

close to something i've been working on for quite sometime. womens issues are 'living' issues from every angle. having the carrying capacity for a decent life is the number one lesson we teach kids. it just is. don't overspend. get a good education. be good members of your community. it's about LIFE. the life that exists and feels real pain right now. or can raise our humanity up another notch. it's up to us in every choice we make. LIFE has to be our meme.

we have to BECOME A CATEGORY OF ONE when it comes to life and it's right there.

READ Becoming a Category of One: hos extrodinary companies trascend commodity and defy comparison. it's marketing for idiots, but our best resources are very "business" -like. we brand ideas. they brand products by assoicating them with ideas.

hubby had the pleasure of attending a seminar this guy gave last nite and he came home we talked about over wine. we've built companies and bands and political groups for many years and it's frustrating to see contemporary grassroots not plucking wisdom from the Fast Company genre. this is good stuff. it's not the bible or anything, but can be a powerful tool.

[redqueen]

56. Hah! Anti-choicers are SO not pro-life.

Thanks for clarifying this issue!

[kath]

67. yeah, "culture of life" my ass.

[im10ashus]

59. Good post!

:kick: :kick:

[etherealtruth]

60. Excellent!!!!!

There's nothing left to say ... you've said it all----beautifully!

[laundry_queen]

61. Excellent post!!! n/t

[Rainscents]

62. Beautifuly said!!! Thank you!!!

I am bookmarking to us it when I need to!

[WePurrsevere]

65. Says exactly how I feel

and so very very well. Thank you. B-)

[Lowell]

68. Great post

nothing left to add. Recommended!

[or_else]

77. Thank You

I registered for an account just to thank you for your post. I hate the recent definition of Pro-Life, and I think you're helping redefine it.

[dissent1977]

82. Thanks, and welcome to DU

[Name removed]

78. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[dissent1977]

86. Another freeper post deleted before I had a chance to read it?

That is too bad, I would have liked to have heard their ravings. Always gives me a good laugh.

Anyways I would like to thank the freeper if they are reading for keeping this thread kicked. I appreciate being given the ability to spread my message further, in the hopes that it gives people some ammo to fight the right-wing with.

[Massacure]

79. The second and the third to the last paragraph throw ammo to the freepers.

If you took those two out, it would frame the debate on everything but abortion. I'm not advocating giving up on a womans right to choose and accurate sex-ed, but you do have to frame them the right way.

[dissent1977]

84. I understand but...

I decided to keep them in to make it clear that I am also pro-choice.

I had actually considered writing absolutely nothing about abortion in the post, but I was worried that might confuse some people into thinking that I wanted to take away their right to choose when that is not the case at all.

[sundancekid]

80. my own sign says: I am a proud American: PRO ALL LIFE and PRO ALL CHOICE

[BamaLefty]

81. This Just Had To Be Kicked...

Awesome post... wonderfully written.

Amen! I can't wait to post it on another forum (assuming that's okay). :)

[dissent1977]

83. Yes, that is ok

[really annoyed]

85. Thank You!

I will be sending this post to my friends!

Excellent work, dissent1977 :yourock: