M.I.T. graduate Will Bradshaw is co-founder and President of Green Coast Enterprises, using innovative procedures to rebuild New Orleans homes devastated by Katrina. He is pro-life. He is voting for Barack Obama.

When Bradshaw describes himself as “pro-life,” he is speaking about an issue that goes beyond the simplistic code word that usually refers only to abortion. His larger frame of reference has led him to a conscientiously consistent decision to support Obama.

When I came across the comments Will had written on the subject, I contacted him. With his gracious permission, I am quoting, in full, those comments. He is the sole author of the insightful, previously unpublished remarks below. 

Earlier this week, I received an email from a college roommate urging me to vote for John McCain to stop the Barack Obama abortion agenda. My friend stated that John McCain and the Republican Party were intellectually bankrupt, but the idea of voting for life was enough to swing his vote. It’s enough to swing mine too, even if I have a different understanding of what voting for life means.

I’m voting for fewer unwanted pregnancies, sex education in schools, and greater access to birth control. I’m voting for never returning to a time when desperate women turn to back alley abortions rather than their families, their faith community, and their health care provider.

I’m voting to move the number of uninsured Americans from 46.6 million to 0 so that no one else will die from a preventable disease. I’m voting to expand primary education, lower college tuition costs, and give every child born in this country a safe place to learn so that she can become anything she imagines.

I’m voting to reverse the colossal failure of international relations that transformed nearly universal good will to nearly universal enmity in the seven short years since September 12, 2001. I’m voting to join the global effort to slow climate change and protect our New Orleans home.

I’m voting for new thinking about how to reduce energy demand and our dependence on foreign oil. Drill baby drill will get us 1% more oil in a decade, and more debt that we can spend enriching the most dangerous governments in the world. Conserve baby conserve can reduce consumption 10-15% today.

I’m voting for new solutions to the urban genocide that occurs when young people see no opportunity outside of crime and violence. I’m voting for our nation to move closer to healing the wounds of race and class that divide us.

I’m voting to end a costly war of choice in Iraq that has killed over 4,000 American soldiers and 100,000 Iraqi civilians. I’m voting for a return to fiscal discipline, common-sense regulation, and the largest surpluses in American history.

Yes, I’m voting for life, in a more expansive sense than Roe v Wade and the right to privacy it provided. So join me in supporting Barack Obama and take a stand for life.

Will Bradshaw
New Orleans, Louisiana

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