The privilege of democracy carries with it the responsibility to vote, and in each election cycle it is important to consider what is at stake. In recent election cycles, American voters have proven that Life Counts at the ballot box by choosing life by a margin of two to one.
No matter your political persuasion, if concern for life motivates your vote, these are the top five most significant issues in 2012. The United States needs policies:
1. CURBING THE RADICAL EXPANSION OF ABORTION: President Obama has set in motion the largest expansion of abortion since Roe v. Wade through the enactment of Obamacare. Obamacare’s Covert Abortion Premium Mandate slips funding for abortion into health insurance policies, and preventive care guidelines that mandate insurance coverage for life-ending drugs and devices mischaracterized as “contraception.” Because support for abortion is so pervasive in the healthcare law, the only solution is repeal. To read more about abortion in healthcare, click here.
2. RESTORING FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHT OF CONSCIENCE PROTECTIONS: Last year, the Obama Administration’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), under the clear influence of Planned Parenthood, announced that it was defining a “preventive services” provision of Obamacare to include “all FDA approved contraceptives,” forcing private health insurance plans to fully cover life-ending drugs and devices, including ella, an abortion-inducing drug.
Despite the knowledge that mandated coverage for life-ending drugs violates the religious beliefs and moral principles of many Americans, HHS has not budged and the mandate began to impact plans on August 1. By design, the mandate has a “rolling” start. With each passing month, more plans will be infected with forced coverage for life-ending drugs and devices. The so-called “safe harbor” for certain religious non-profit organizations expires on August 1, 2013. To confront this travesty, AUL launched a Freedom of Conscience project. Click here to learn more.
3. PROVIDING COMMONSENSE LIMITS ON ABORTION: The Obama Administration’s support for unrestricted abortion through all 9 months of pregnancy is out of touch with the vast majority of Americans. Recent polls reveal that 63 percent of all Americans – 70 percent of women – support a late-term, 20-week abortion limitation.
In particular, late-term abortions are exponentially more dangerous to women, an issue that AUL has addressed in our groundbreaking “Women’s Health Protection Act” which bans abortion at or after 20 weeks because of the well-documented risks of late-term abortion procedures. To learn more about the health risks of late-term abortion procedures, click here.
4. ADOPTING LIFE-AFFIRMING POLICIES IN LINE WITH THE VAST MAJORITY OF THE WORLD: Under current law, the United States stands with North Korea, China, and Canada as the four nations with the most radical pro-abortion laws. The U.S. is one of only 4 nations (out of 195 nations in the world) that do not limit abortion after fetal viability. To read an AUL analysis of this tragedy, click here.
CLICK LIKE IF YOU’RE PRO-LIFE!
5. GETTING THE TAXPAYER OUT OF THE BUSINESS OF SUBSIDIZING THE ABORTION INDUSTRY: The Obama Administration is so committed to taxpayer funding and subsidies for abortion providers that they have worked to override the actions of duly elected state officials to eliminate or reduce taxpayer monies going to Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers. In fact, the Obama Administration was willing to allow a shut down of the federal government rather than see any cuts in the more than $1 million dollars a day going to Planned Parenthood through federal taxes.
Meanwhile, 7 in 10 Americans – both pro-life and pro-choice – do not want their tax dollars to fund or subsidize the abortion industry. AUL has called for an investigation into Planned Parenthood so that taxpayers can learn what was done with the billions of tax dollars given to the abortion mega provider. To read more about the Case for Investigating Planned Parenthood, click here.
LifeNews.com Note: Charmaine Yoest is the president of Americans United for Life.
