In the coming months Canadians will be faced with a federal election. This coming election will be incredibly important for the pro-life movement. We as a movement have got to stop playing “business as usual” with politicians.

Perhaps the most frustrating element in these elections is uniting pro-lifers in targeting a particular candidate. Granted, we have seen daring work by Liberals for Life, but the swirl of political rhetoric has caused me to address the most disabling of arguments, “the seamless garment theory” or  “the consistent ethic of life theory”.

Unfortunately, well-meaning individuals have surrendered to this philosophy. How on earth do we approach this? How do we convince others that the issue of abortion is of such paramount importance, that a Christian cannot in good conscience vote for someone who is pro-abortion?

Not like other issues

The issue of abortion is unlike any other issue facing the electorate. Issues of unemployment, capital punishment, economic revitalization are important, and yes, demand the attention of the electorate, but do they supercede the issue of abortion?

I contend that the disregard for human life that is idolatrized in abortion on demand has trickled down into other matters of public policy. The operation of other issues must be founded upon the intense and visible respect for the dignity of the human person. Otherwise, they will become empty forms of law doomed for the scrap heap.

Abortion is not just any issue

It is very important that the “theory of the seamless garment” NOT be perpetuated by churches and any other group of moral authority with respect to abortion. It is time to toss it off the bandwagon.

Unfortunately, individuals insist that abortion should not be allowed to become the sole determinative in deciding to vote against a candidate.

There are evil consequences from following this train of thought. The act of abortion involves the willful destruction of a human being; the callous killing of another person. If we really believe that, we will vote accordingly.

Conversely, if someone tells us not to be “single issue” voters, they don’t believe a human being is being killed in abortion. As the American pro-life writer Frank Morris so aptly put it, “It is immoral to one degree or another – objectively at least – to vote for committed pro-abortionists when their election would advance the cause of abortion.

And let us not fool ourselves! The Abortion – crazy NDP couldn’t refrain from diving headlong into the public purse and dividing the spoils among the abortophiles and their hirelings. This, at the expense of a crippled economy, and a job hungry province. I can’t help but muse at their “single issue” politics.

Single issue?

It is better for the pro-life if we stay united in defeating pro-abortion politicians, no matter what their social policy looks like.

And finally, we have got to stop individuals from calling us single-issue voters. Nothing could be further from the truth. We are a committed voting bloc that is best described as “focused issue voters” because we believe that the best action for public policy is to enshrine into the constitution the inalienable right to life of all people.

Davis Quinlan is a freelance
writer and recently a pro-life
activist in London, Ontario.