Politics Of The Left - Campaigning For Abortion In Church
By Jonathon Van Maren/Bridgehead.ca September 12, 2022
Share this article:
Stacey Abrams, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate attempting to beat Republic Governor Brian Kemp, is wildly popular in progressive circles, and her claim that the 2018 governor's race was stolen from her due to voter suppression was received as fact by most mainstream media outlets.
Abrams thinks much of herself--she openly campaigned for the vice-presidential slot that eventually went to Kamala Harris, explaining to anyone who would listen why she'd be best for the job.
But her hubris on the abortion issue makes all of that look downright modest.
Abrams recently showed up to stump for votes at the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Woodstock, Georgia. Abrams decided to use her church campaign speech to sermonize on abortion. According to Abrams, the problem with today's pro-life politicians--and pastors--is theological illiteracy.
"I was trained to read and understand the Bible, and I will tell you this," she thundered with obvious anger. "There is nothing about the decision to eliminate access to abortion care that is grounded in anything other than cruelty and meanness and danger in the state of Georgia. Nothing!"
She continued: "Brian Kemp, and yes, I'm going to call his name, is a hard-right religious extremist who has decided that he knows better than any woman about her body and has decided to make women second-class citizens in the state of Georgia in the year of our Lord 2022.
Let's be clear about what this law does. A 6-week abortion ban means you either failed biology or you failed morality because it is before most women know that they're pregnant."
It's difficult to know where to start with all of that nonsense because it's pretty clear that Abrams understands almost nothing about Scripture, embryology, or morality. Abortion has been one of the most divisive issues in American politics for nearly a half-century, and you'd think that at some point during that time Abrams would take it upon herself to actually check to see what the pro-life case is. Human beings have human rights; human rights begin when the human being begins; there is an iron-clad scientific consensus on when human life begins.
To ignore the fact that abortion is an act of violence perpetrated against a tiny, unique, living, whole human being is to fail at biology and morality. To claim that anyone who opposes this cruelty is only doing so because they have some sort of vendetta is simply asinine. (Incidentally, women are more likely to be pro-life than men, so I'm not sure what that does for Abrams' thesis.)
As a side note, if Abrams were a Republican there would be voices on both the Left and the Right decrying "Christian nationalism" and condemning campaign stumping at a church. I'd actually agree that politicking should be kept out of church, but I have noticed that most seem to save their ire for the weird MAGA pastors but seem strangely silent when Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock, an ordained pastor, announces that he's "pro-choice."
That brand of "Christian nationalism" seems to be great--because that brand of "Christian" pastor is just what the Democrats ordered.
"White evangelicals" are smeared in dozens of think pieces by both progressives and by plenty of evangelical pundits--but I can't imagine those same writers condemning black evangelicals for having Stacey Abrams defending abortion in the name of God at the front of a church during campaign season.
Abrams is just the latest Democratic politician to twist scripture to support Abortion access.
Vice President Kamala Harris told a group of faith leaders last week that they can lead the way in the fight to protect access to abortion.
Speaking at the National Baptist Convention in Houston, Texas the vice president criticized the State for passing legislation restricting and banning access to abortion and called on the pastors to join the fight for "light" over darkness.
Harris also pointed to her own upbringing in the Baptist faith.
"As so many of us did, I learned in the Bible of the many teachings of the ever-present tension between darkness and light,” Harris said. "And I learned in these moments how important it is to recognize the power of faith."
The convention was attended by roughly 2,000 faith leaders, whom she urged to "help lead us forward" in the fight to ensure women can "make decisions about their own future."
"These ideals now hang in the balance, and in this moment then we count on the strength and conviction of our faith leaders to help lead us forward," she said.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) also recently declared it was "sinful" to prohibit access to abortion.
Originally published at The Bridgehead - reposted with permission.
