Republicans Must Stand Their Ground on Life, No Truce on Abortion

Opinion   |   Kristan Hawkins   |   Nov 5, 2010   |   3:38PM   |   Washington, DC

Coming off perhaps one of the most historic election cycles in our nation’s history, Americans overwhelmingly voted against the pro-abortion Obama agenda and showed Washington insiders that the country is pro-life.

The results of the election were awe-inspiring and a testament to the will of the American people.

With pro-choice Democrats returning for their last days in Washington, D.C. and Republicans preparing their agenda for the next year, the GOP needs to remember the mandate they have just been given by the American people.

Recently the GOP leadership announced their “Pledge to America” and rightly placed emphasis on economic issues. Spending has skyrocketed under the Obama Administration, and unemployment continues to rise. For the nation a solid plan must be in place not only to cut spending but also to put money back into the hands of small businesses so that their owners can continue to grow and to hire more American workers.

Thankfully, this new pledge contains references to ban taxpayer-funded abortion, which was included in Obamacare and omitted from the 1994 “Contract for America.” It was the issue of abortion that nearly brought down Obamacare: It wasn’t until the 11th hour that the supposed pro-life Democrats caved to an empty Executive order from President Obama.

According to Gallup, for the second year in a row, 47% of Americans identify themselves as pro-life, as do 47% of Americans aged 18-29, making our generation the most pro-life generation yet. With no laws restricting taxpayer-funded abortions in Obamacare and more than $300 million dollars in taxpayer funds going to our nation’s largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood, Americans do care about these issues.

As good as the Pledge to America may sound, especially to traditional pro-life and pro-family groups, it is only with cautious optimism that we approach the new direction of the Republican leadership. There should be no compromise. Indeed, President Obama has already made it clear that he plans to fight the new Republican leadership in order to continue to implement his liberal agenda.

Recently staunch pro-life politicians have come out publicly in support of a “truce” on social issues. Social conservatives have the same concerns about the economy that everyone else does, but to lose focus of the core issue of the basic right to life would be a glaring oversight of a main tenet of the Republican Party and one of the new mandates of the results of the election. Clearly Americans want conservative values. It bespeaks of ill judgment to suggest calling a truce on social issues, especially when we have a President in office who has shown zero regard for the lives of the preborn.

It is possible to stand for life and liberty. Indeed, one issue cannot be separated from the other. How can America move forward if we will not step up to secure our future?

Ronald Reagan ran on a “three-legged stool” platform: social conservatism, fiscal conservatism, and foreign policy conservatism. Without these three aspects of the party united, the party abandons its base. Reagan said, “We cannot survive as a free nation when some men decide that others are not fit to live and should be abandoned to abortion or infanticide … there is no cause more important for preserving that freedom than affirming the transcendent right to Life of all human beings, the right without which no other rights have any meaning.”

While social conservatives understand the enormousness of the fiscal crisis facing the United States, we cannot call a truce on what we believe to be matters of life and death. We are hopeful that the new GOP leadership and new Congress will take meaningful action on their “Pledge to America” and that they will stand for Life.

LifeNews.com:  Kristan Hawkins is a guest pro-life blogger at LifeNews.com. This column originally appeared in Human Events and is used with permission.