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 He is the sole author of the insightful, previously unpublished remarks below.Â
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
6 users commented in " Pro-Life, Obama Style: New Orleans Entrepreneur Sees Larger Picture "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackSorry, Will, but your big picture is so large you’re totally out of focus.
Obama is well outside the mainstream view of Americans on abortion.
He supports abortions throughout pregnancy for any reason, even though polls show just a handful of Americans support that view. Obama opposes common-sense laws to reduce abortions that have the backing of the strong majority of Americans — rejecting a partial-birth abortion ban, parental involvement laws for minor girls, informed consent, and bans on taxpayer funding of abortion.
Obama supposedly takes a “personally opposed, but” position opposing abortions personally, but expressing an unwillingness to making them illegal in the same way he would make illegal other objectionable practices. However, he betrayed that viewpoint by telling Pennsylvania voters that he didn’t want his daughters “punished” with a baby should they find themselves pregnant as teenagers.
Obama talks a good game — frequently mentioning his opposition to abortion, calling for programs to provide more support for pregnant women. Yet, he has voted against supporting pregnant women and their unborn children through the SCHIP program and he has promised Planned Parenthood he will follow their lead on legislation (which includes a bill to put pregnancy help centers out of business). Obama has not put forth any comprehensive proposals to provide tangible support for pregnant women and to reduce abortions.
Instead, Obama promised in July 2007 that his first action as president wouldn’t be improving the nation’s economy, providing health care or education or tackling any of the other issues that concern most Americans — rather, it would be overturning every single law that limits or reduces abortion in all 50 states.
Of course, at this point so much has been written about Barack Obama’s pro-abortion views and his votes against bills in the Illinois state legislature to provide protection for newborn babies who survive failed abortions. Anyone not familiar with how his record is as extreme or more than prior pro-abortion presidential candidates hasn’t been paying attention.
More at http://www.lifenews.com/johnmccainprolife.html
–Steven
Wow. So well said. Am delighted to hear a young person express what I know and feel. We have to think of others. This country is made up of all creeds, not just one. If we want our freedom to continue we must leave it open not closed because of narrow and ignorant thinking. We are “the land of the free”
Obama, “pro-life?”, “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.
In other words, he wants is to issue more condoms to kids so they can fuck more without getting pregnant but he only said it in a nicer way. What if the girl gets pregnant anyway? He skips the issue, because HE FAVORS ABORTION! That’s PRO-LIFE to you? That’s not pro life that’s pro-fuck!
John–Read the first paragraph of Bradshaw’s article again. He does NOT favor abortion; he is fact opposed to it. You seem to like the F word, a lot, which is not allowed on this site.
Steven–You missed the whole point of the article, which is that saving lives can be done in more ways than just stopping abortions. Your arguments, otherwise, are at least well reasoned.
Mark Mercer
Sorry Mark about the F word, won’t happen again. I just feel so strongly about it and the truth is Mr. Obama is indeed pro-abortion. It is public record and anyone can look it up.
Thanks, John. A reading error on MY part. I thought you were referring to Bradshaw’s opinion’s (the guy I quoted), when in fact you were referencing Obama’s position. You are quite correct–Obama is pro-abortion.
I’m not moralistic at all about the F word, couldn’t care less, but the BNN editors do warn the writers not to use it.
Thanks for reading, and for your posts. I have a true respect for informed disagreements with my opinions, and you clearly are informed. –Mark Mercer
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