Where The Pro-life Movement is at Today
Today, the Republican Party is recognized as the pro-life movement’s political base. Many conservatives assert that to be truly pro-life, one must agree with the GOP on everything and only vote for their candidates. A pro-lifer who believes in climate change and worker’s unions is someone who is anathema in the eyes of conservatives.
The pro-life movement’s alliance with the Republican Party, however, has always been a peculiar one given the general reluctance of the latter to adopt a consistent life ethic. What many don’t realize is that before and shortly after Roe v. Wade, the pro-life movement was not associated with either major US political party.
It is no surprise that neither major political party in the United States aligns with a consistent life ethic. It doesn’t make sense for pro-lifers to align themselves with democrats for the obvious reason that the Democratic Party vehemently excludes preborn children and anyone willing to protect them.
It doesn’t make sense for pro-lifers to align themselves with the Republican Party either—a political party supportive of exceptions for abortion and opposed to economic policies that help families, such as paid parental leave and greater subsidies for childcare.
It’s often said that democrats do not care about children before they are born, and republicans don’t care about children after they are born, so it makes sense that the pro-life movement doesn’t fit neatly with either major party.
A Whole-life Political Party
For those who are pro-life for the whole life and are tired of the political duopoly in the United States, there is a political party that shares their values.
As a quickly growing third party in the United States, the American Solidarity Party platform is based on a consistent life ethic.
Unlike the Green and Constitution Party, the American Solidarity Party is not a splinter party meant to simply pressure one of the major parties to adopt a certain policy. It is rather more akin to the Libertarian Party in that its overall platform is opposed to both the Democrat and Republican parties.
To name a few of its tenets, the ASP supports adding a Human Life Amendment to the Constitution, proposes a distributist economy, and advocates for policies that support immigrants.
With the consistent life ethic as its main tenet, the American Solidarity Party seeks to create a society that allows families to flourish.
According to the ASP platform, the party supports pro-natal policies that empower families to welcome children into the world by mitigating economic and social barriers. They state that “pregnancy, childbirth, and neonatal care must be free at the point of care so that no family need worry about the expenses of bringing a child into the world.” They also support “baby bonuses” and favorable tax treatment for expenses incurred by growing families, such as housing, transportation, and child care.
Political Strategy
Switching the pro-life movement to another political party is a long-term goal, one that is in the best interest of the pro-life movement, but a common concern of switching the pro-life movement over to the American Solidarity Party is that of splitting the pro-life vote.
This is a legitimate concern for pro-lifers in red states and swing states, as pro-choice politicians winning elections is not a good thing. One thing that we can be sure about, however, is that in states like New York, Illinois, and California, voting for the Republican candidate in presidential elections has the exact same effect as voting third party.
Pro-lifers in blue states can vote for ASP candidates in presidential elections and be rest assured that they are not indirectly causing a pro-choice democratic candidate to be elected.
It might be hard to imagine pro-lifers diverging from the Republican Party, but all we have to do is look at the pro-life movement in other countries and see that they typically don’t have their own version of the GOP. If the pro-life movement in the United States wants to see more success in the future, it’s time that it aligns itself with the political party that best represents it: the American Solidarity Party.
Photo by Sora Shimazaki at Pexels
Prolife college student looking to be a voice for the unborn.
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Where The Pro-life Movement is at Today
Today, the Republican Party is recognized as the pro-life movement’s political base. Many conservatives assert that to be truly pro-life, one must agree with the GOP on everything and only vote for their candidates. A pro-lifer who believes in climate change and worker’s unions is someone who is anathema in the eyes of conservatives.
The pro-life movement’s alliance with the Republican Party, however, has always been a peculiar one given the general reluctance of the latter to adopt a consistent life ethic. What many don’t realize is that before and shortly after Roe v. Wade, the pro-life movement was not associated with either major US political party.
It is no surprise that neither major political party in the United States aligns with a consistent life ethic. It doesn’t make sense for pro-lifers to align themselves with democrats for the obvious reason that the Democratic Party vehemently excludes preborn children and anyone willing to protect them.
It doesn’t make sense for pro-lifers to align themselves with the Republican Party either—a political party supportive of exceptions for abortion and opposed to economic policies that help families, such as paid parental leave and greater subsidies for childcare.
It’s often said that democrats do not care about children before they are born, and republicans don’t care about children after they are born, so it makes sense that the pro-life movement doesn’t fit neatly with either major party.
A Whole-life Political Party
For those who are pro-life for the whole life and are tired of the political duopoly in the United States, there is a political party that shares their values.
As a quickly growing third party in the United States, the American Solidarity Party platform is based on a consistent life ethic.
Unlike the Green and Constitution Party, the American Solidarity Party is not a splinter party meant to simply pressure one of the major parties to adopt a certain policy. It is rather more akin to the Libertarian Party in that its overall platform is opposed to both the Democrat and Republican parties.
To name a few of its tenets, the ASP supports adding a Human Life Amendment to the Constitution, proposes a distributist economy, and advocates for policies that support immigrants.
With the consistent life ethic as its main tenet, the American Solidarity Party seeks to create a society that allows families to flourish.
According to the ASP platform, the party supports pro-natal policies that empower families to welcome children into the world by mitigating economic and social barriers. They state that “pregnancy, childbirth, and neonatal care must be free at the point of care so that no family need worry about the expenses of bringing a child into the world.” They also support “baby bonuses” and favorable tax treatment for expenses incurred by growing families, such as housing, transportation, and child care.
Political Strategy
Switching the pro-life movement to another political party is a long-term goal, one that is in the best interest of the pro-life movement, but a common concern of switching the pro-life movement over to the American Solidarity Party is that of splitting the pro-life vote.
This is a legitimate concern for pro-lifers in red states and swing states, as pro-choice politicians winning elections is not a good thing. One thing that we can be sure about, however, is that in states like New York, Illinois, and California, voting for the Republican candidate in presidential elections has the exact same effect as voting third party.
Pro-lifers in blue states can vote for ASP candidates in presidential elections and be rest assured that they are not indirectly causing a pro-choice democratic candidate to be elected.
It might be hard to imagine pro-lifers diverging from the Republican Party, but all we have to do is look at the pro-life movement in other countries and see that they typically don’t have their own version of the GOP. If the pro-life movement in the United States wants to see more success in the future, it’s time that it aligns itself with the political party that best represents it: the American Solidarity Party.
Photo by Sora Shimazaki at Pexels
Dylan Atwater
Prolife college student looking to be a voice for the unborn.
The views and opinions expressed in these articles are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Human Defense Initiative.
Dylan Atwater
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