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Readers' forum: LDS, Demos alike on abortion
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Come to reality
I know many Democrats that are quite rational on the subject and believe just as this letter writer does. Sadly, the Democratic party as a whole is much more liberal on their views.
For years Utah Democrats had to content themselves with language that allowed for abortion only in cases of "life or health" of the mother. Legally, the "or health" portion has allowed tens of millions of abortions since Roe v Wade.
In other parts of the country Democrats could brag that exact same language almost allowed 'abortion on demand.'
Utah Democrats are constantly faced with the reality that their part as a whole is just as radical as they seem on the 5PM news. Not a fun position to try and defend, even if my Utah Democratic buddies don't support 55 million abortions in the US.
The issue at hand is agency. A woman has the right to choose - once. If she chooses to have sex and that act results in pregnancy, she has made the choice to let that baby live. If she has not had a choice in having sex, i.e., rape or incest, then she still has the right to make a choice about the baby. When her life is in total danger and there is no doubt that bearing a child will kill her, then she has the right to decide whether to live or to die at the expense of the baby.
Review the Democrat position and you'll see that they believe in abortion on demand, at any time and for any reason. Add to that, the stand that Mr. Obama took as a state senator in Illinois, and the right extends past the time of birth. He voted to allow a live, breathing baby to die if it survived the abortion attempt!
My question is - Do those who oppose Roe v. Wade who contribute to this page agree with Joe's assessment? He and Chris Mathews had a vigorous debate about that issue. I genuinely would like to know. Thanks, in advance, for your honest and candid answers.
The LDS Church allows very few exceptions, which account for only ~1% of all abortions. Democrats support the right to all of the other 99% of abortions as well, against LDS beliefs. Most Republicans support the exact same LDS view. As for the Democratic views on everything else, they go against the Church in so many areas, like Gay marriage. The First Presidency supports a Constitutional Amendment to ban it. Democrats want it nationwide.
How is supporting the right to keep and bear arms anti-life? Republicans oppose the illegal use of guns to commit murder, but we do support our right to protect ourselves and family. I am surprised that Democrats oppose shooting an individual who tries to harm you or your family. I do not support the philosophy that I should sacrifice myself and family to protect the life of the criminal. Besides, guns were illegal in DC for years, and they still had one of the highest violent crime rates in the Nation.
And hunting is not murder.
Clever wording, but passing the buck to the States rather than the Federal Government, still begs the question. What gives a woman the right to destroy an unborn child after she chose to participate in the activity that created that child?
In any other circumstance, no one is ever allowed to take the life of another human being without a judge, a jury and years of litigation. Abortion does away with the judge, the jury, the years of litigation and lets one person decide whether another person lives or dies.
Barack Obama will appoint judges that will continue to allow abortion under any circumstance. He even referred to having a baby as "punishment", and would prefer his daughters have an abortion if they got pregnant when they did not want to. That is how liberals see children, as a punishment. How is that in line with LDS doctrine Mr Price?
You talk about wars in other parts...
True, their is an almighty war going on right now and it involves the defenseless, innocent unborn!
Neocons talk and talk about overturning Roe v Wade and nothing ever happens other than some noise around election time.
Q: Why aren't Cannon, Hatch, Bennett, et al. lobbying for the overturn? :>
Modern LDS doctrine has softened, leaving the decision now, if a woman is raped, to be decided by prayer.
Other than this, abortions are not sanctioned by the LDS church, other than this, they are not to be rare, they are to be non-existant.
The democrats saying it should be rare is lip service only. Under their and the republicans watch, nothing has been done to make it rare.
Republicans are only anti abortion in lip service. Reagan never made this a priority, his domestic priority was lowering taxes, mostly on the very rich. When Reagan had the chance to do something about abortion, he put Sandra Occonnor on the court, which is why abortion is still legal.
Abortion is one of them (among many). To characterize a party as being the "right" one is a very limited view and should be corrected.
Please...vote for the candidate that represents a stand you agree with on your boilerplate issues... not what party they belong to.
One of the failings of politics in the US is the polarization that has occurred due to our two party system.
Gee, I wonder if this guy goes to the same church that I do?
"The Democratic Party opposes attempts to reverse the 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade, which declared abortion to be a constitutionally-protected right, and Planned Parenthood v. Casey which lays out the legal framework in which government action alleged to violate that right is assessed by courts. As a matter of the right to privacy and of gender equality, many Democrats believe all women should have the ability to choose to abort without governmental interference. They believe that each woman, conferring with her conscience, has the right to choose for herself whether abortion is morally correct. Many Democrats also believe that poor women should have a right to publicly funded abortions."
Thank you to the writer and "God is right, McCain is wrong. You have solved what, for me, has been a great mystery for many years.
If you ARE LDS, you face a simple choice. You can NOT be both a good Mormon and a "good" Democrat. If you are true to the teachings of the Church (free agency, value of life, accountability, etc), you can NOT be a good Democrat (abortion on demand, confiscatory taxation for INvoluntary charitable giving, little or no personal responsibility).
Can it be anymore simple? NO!
One can only teach by example, not by mandate.
If you don't like aboritions then don't participate in them! And let's hope that you are never put in the hard situations that a number of women find themselves in.
Nice try in black-and-whiting the issue, but only today's shallow-thinking neocons are buying into the old "if you're not with us - you must hate babies" BS.
The issue is far more complex than how you are trying to hoodwink us into believing.
That's why Roe v Wade still stands.
Government should never intervene into the privacy of a woman and her God.
Not to mention LDS teachings on thrift.
Keep your religious beliefs out of my government, please.
If a fetus is part of a woman's body, then government has no business making it "rare." Government's only legitimate function is to protect the natural liberties of human beings. If an unborn child is neither a human being, nor an entity close enough to deserve protection, government has no legitimate interest in the subject.
"Good GOP," if you interpret the D&C passage about "renouncing war and proclaiming peace" as constituting an LDS doctrine of pacifism, you're contradicted by the fact that both Joseph Smith and Brigham Young actually caused the LDS Church to wage war -- Smith, against Missouri in the 1830s, and Young against the United States in the 1850s (and also against various Indian tribes).
The meaning of those words must be understood in the context of the actions of the people who wrote and administered them.
Good GOP- President Hinckley gave tacit approval to the Iraq War in General Conference in 2003, and asked us to support the government and troops. If the First Presidency opposed it, why have we not received instruction to this, as we did regarding Gay Marriage. As a matter of fact, some of our Apostles have fought during wars. The Church fully supports the right to defend our liberties and the liberties of others. And Demos are not anti-war. Bill Clinton invaded Yugoslavia.
Stop worrying about- There is a difference between a natural death and human caused death. They are very different. If I have a heart attack and die that is natural. If someone does something to me purposefully to cause a heart attack, that is murder. I guess you would equate them as both the same and both legal.
You do know that the late Pres. James E. Faust was a proud Democrat and was even the chair of the Utah Democratic Party at one time, don't you? I would dare say that he had a pretty good knowledge of both the positions of the LDS Church and the Democratic Party.
The Democrats believe in and promote on-demand abortion at the whim of the mother. They believe that unborn babies are expendable.
The LDS believe that only agency and accountability supercede the sanctity of life. Even then, we believe we will be required to answer to God on how we used that agency with no automatic "pass" for abortion regardless how justifiable the reason.
All Utahns offer are terrific Rush Limbaugh impressions.
When Harry Reid was made majority leader he stated on a network news program that being a Democrat defines who he is. I would think most active Mormons would state that being LDS defines them more than political beliefs or political party. It was also Harry Reid who opposed the Church's support for the Marriage Amendment. And, truth is, the Church's Proclamation on the Family, runs counter to what most mainstream Democrats believe.
The old school Democrats like FDR, Truman, and Kennedy would take one look at the current crop and retch.
"Impressionists" -- Don't leave us Californians out. We offer terrific Limbaugh impressions (not that you'd know one when you saw one) too.
To Thomas @11:01- Anyone with half a brain knows that Faust did not vote Democratic in his later years. I know from interactions with those close to him that he never voted for Bill Clinton. He supported the Democratic ideas from the 50's and before. I guess you think he opposed the First Presidency pronouncement that we tell our Senators to vote to ban gay marriage, even though he was part of that First Presidency.
Great impressionists- All liberals seem to take their talking points from Moveon.org instead of thinking for themselves. I personally rarely ever listen to Limbaugh and think quite clearly for myself. You do not have to listen to Rush or other conservative commentators to understand Democrats and liberals are confused. You just need good old common sense, and it will set you straight.
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The Church is true, its doctrines correct and teachings sound. This is why I choose to align myself with the Church on the issue of abortion and cannot be a good Mormon and a Republican.
Do we believe the Republican Party and evangelical leaders of the Republican Party or do we believe the Prophet and Apostles?
I choose to believe the prophet and apostles and not the far right evangelicals who seek to destroy the family, undermine the principles of the gospel and promote Satan's plan of force.
Instead, I choose God's plan of persuasion, teaching others correct principles and letting them govern themselves and choosing to trust that they will make the right decisions.
God is right and Republicans are wrong! I choose His plan and not theirs. As a devout Mormon I believe that Joseph Smith and President Monson are correct and McCain or Romney who changed his position on abortion to the Republican one are wrong.