by Brister Jonas

Created on: August 17, 2008

Several weeks ago on my daily drive home I encountered a strange man. He was standing on the edge of the road holding up a large sign as rush hour traffic passed by him. Once I made my way over, what I saw horrified me. His sign read "Obama's Choice", with a graphic photo of an aborted fetus displayed below. Luckily, my 3 year old daughter who was in the backseat, is too young to pay attention to something like that. I feel sorry for the parents of the 7 and 8 year old children, who obviously had to field some very difficult questions shortly after. The man's statement was obviously politically motivated. His proclamation: Do not vote for Barack Obama, he is a baby killer. Has America truly become this divided?

The conservative agenda pushes voters, particularly evangelical voters, to vote with their hearts, not their heads. George W. Bush used abortion as a tool to help him win two elections (well, his first victorious election is greatly disputed). So how did voting for someone because of their pro-life stance turn out? Abortion is still legal and his other actions I wont even comment on. Please wake up, America. Abortion will never be illegal. Can you imagine the chaos it would create? Personally, I put the aftermath not too far below the failed prohibition era.

While I disagree with abortion personally, I recognize that if our country is to be as great as it sought out to be, it must not be my decision whether a woman has one or not. I believe we should concentrate our efforts to reduce abortion, but not in ways that are embarrassing or mocking unto others. Please take one simple statistic into consideration: Women living in poverty have abortions performed at a rate four times that of middle class women. Why must we be intent on condemning others, rather than help solve the largest problem, poverty. All Statistics show very simply that more poverty equals more abortions.

The man I encountered on the street was working against the person and the political party, that actually cares about the poverty problem in this country. In my opinion, he is the "baby killer". Instead of standing in the heat holding an offensive sign for two hours, he could have reached out to several people and helped them. Please understand that telling a woman entering a clinic that she is a sinner, a killer, and will be punished for her actions, is absolutely not the way to reach out and help.

Please, wake up America, and do not be fooled by these scare tactics imposed upon you. If abortion is your "hot button" issue, please make sure you vote for the right candidate. Hint: Usually not the one trying to scare you into voting for them.

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