So you THINK you're Pro Life.....

With the selection of Sara Palin as VP candidate on the GOP ticket, the issue of abortion once again raises its head. She calls herself an "anti-abortion feminist". Okay - at least she keeps the terminology clear. But for the rest of us, Class, a lesson in semantics.

First - Anti-abortion DOES NOT EQUAL "Pro Life". And here's why: the ability to abort one specific life ends once a fetus has been removed from the uterus - alive or otherwise. Life, on the other hand, continues for years or decades beyond the delivery room...or not.

Fellow Roman Catholics, listen up. Because any minute now Church leaders will be endeavoring to make this into yet another single-issue election, all the while muddling the single issue. And even if you are not Catholic - perhaps not even a believer - the distinctions still apply.

Pro Life:
Webster's defines the terms thusly:
"pro" - (adv.) in favor: for
"life" - (n.) 1. the quality that distinguishes a vital and functioning being from a dead body or inanimate matter (emphasis mine)

The Roman Catholic Church states that to be Pro-Life, one is committed to preserving and defending life from conception to natural death. Uh huh...

So that means that, to be considered Pro Life a person must necessarily:
--insist that the infant and her mother receive adequate and affordable healthcare throughout their lives
--pay taxes to provide an education that makes the child competitive in the global job market
--establish the means to obtain safe and affordable housing, and punish predatory lending practices on the part of banks and other financial institutions

I could go on. Healthcare, education, and housing, are, after all, necessities of life.

Being Pro Life means the environment must be preserved, and natural resources used wisely and distributed fairly.

Being Pro Life means that Iraqi children have as much right to be "vital and functioning" as American children do.

Being Pro Life means that those approaching retirement need not fear that their hard-earned retirement funds will somehow disappear into a cloud of management greed.

Do you get it, Class? Too often people proclaim themselves Pro Life, yet don't give a damn what happens to that life once it has gone beyond the hospital delivery room. It simply doesn't work that way. If I am Pro Life, then I am for the person throughout life.

These are tough decisions, because they involve a financial and moral cost to me. They involve a commitment to my fellow human beings for longer than 9 months - and we have such a short attention span! But I cannot, in good conscience, call myself Pro Life if all I am interested in is anti-abortion.

As Americans we used to be so much better than that!