Can a Democrat be Pro-Life?

Twenty years ago I would’ve considered myself a hard-core Democrat, but since then I have felt that either party represents me or my interest. I feel that the middle class have been all but forgotten by both of the parties, and that greed and corruption have taken over! I was a man without a party.

Leading into the 2016 general election I had a hard choice to make. Did I want more of the same, or was I really wanting to throw a wrench in the system? I really did not like Hillary Clinton as the Democrat nominee and I despise Donald Trump as a person.

After the 2016 general election all the crazy started happening and the polarization just increased. I am an independent, so both extremes bother me, but I wanted to throw my hat in the ring and see if I could help bring the focus back to “We the People”. Every since Citizens United claimed that corporations had the same rights as the people. Politics has become even more corrupt! Our elected officials seem to care more about their next election, then the people that elected them in the first place. 

The decision to run as a Democrat though was not an easy choice to make. I am a man of strong faith with deep Christian values and convictions. There were a couple things I took into consideration, when I was making my decision. The first was “what would Jesus do?”. In my opinion, and that’s all that this is, Jesus loved everyone and fought against those who did not. 1 John 3:17 “But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?”. I don’t feel that today’s Republican Party are “the party of God”. When I am talking to some of my conservative friends, a lot of times all I hear is hate and bigotry. The Missouri Republican Party actually takes this one step further and works against the people that elect them. The Missouri Republican Party backed Right To Work in Missouri, but we the people gathered signatures and got our initiative to repeal RTW on the ballot. That ballot initiative was called Proposition A and it won by 67% of the vote. We the people also gather signatures to clean up Missouri politics and offer fair elections. This movement was called Clean Missouri. It also won by more than 62% of the vote, but as soon as the next session started the Missouri Republicans were chipping away at the most important parts of clean Missouri. Sunshine laws were put into place to increase transparency. They have all but gutted those laws, and that is disgraceful. What are they trying to hide? 

Then comes my second question, and this one caused me to debate with myself.  Can somebody who is pro-life be a Democrat? That question was the hardest to answer, but we do have separation of church and state and I have a hard time with government overreach. The government telling any person what they can, or cannot, do with their body is wrong to me. But is abortion murder? The Supreme Court’s ruling in Roe v. Wade states that A fetus cannot survive outside of the woman’s body before the third trimester and therefore it is not an independent living being. Although I am still personally against abortion, and I hate the thought of it, I don’t feel that morality or ones body should be legislated. Those are matters that should be taught by parents and religious leaders in the comunity, and unlike most so called pro-lifers I care about that fetus throughout it’s intire life cycle. I care about the baby through it’s infancy, the toddler years, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, middle age, and even in their senior years. I am more then just pro-fetus! 

So you see why this was a tough decision for me to make, but in the end I still feel that the Democratic Party was the best choice for me. Although, they too have lost their way, they seem more about working for the people. I will never be all in with either party but I am comfortable with my decision to rejoin the Democratic Party. The Democrats used to be the party of the working middle class, and my goal is to get them headed back in that direction. I stand for a strong middle class, affordable quality education, Medicare for All, workers rights and strong unions, bringing jobs back to America, safe roads and bridges, a thriving economy, and making sure that the Needs of the people are never for profit. I have no problem with companies profiting off the Wants of the people, but putting profits over the needs of the people is just wrong!

-Travis Hagewood