We have been promised, and I do not use that word lightly, by certain political candidates during the last 30 years that they were pro-life and willing to be proactive in restricting progressive infanticide. They assured us they could not do more until they were established in power sufficiently to control appointments to the federal bench. Further, their fund-raisers and pundits assured us that they had to focus on federal political solutions, and they needed the money to do it, but they could not focus on local political solutions, too.
The abortion industry focused its money and lobbying on local political policy makers. As a result, the Massachusetts Board of Pharmacy, just like its counterpart in Illinois, entered an order compelling Walmart to offer for sale the “morning after†pill, according to CNSNews.com. Because of these orders, Walmart indicates it may reconsider its policy not to offer the pill.
Personally, I am not sure the “morning after†pill is on the same moral plane with abortion generally, and late-term abortion specifically, but that is not the point to be noted here. I have a friend who put his career on the line by refusing to sell the “morning after†pill and refusing to service abortion clinics, and that testimony is good enough for me. But what is not good enough for me is this pattern.
Sooner Catholic, the newspaper of the archdiocese of Oklahoma City, reported that a local democratic state representative was under attack because of her pro-life beliefs. Flyers have appeared disparaging the state representative because of her church membership as well as her support of pro-life legislation.
The pro-abortion forces roused 26,000 messages from 50 states, according to CNSNews.com, to contact Walmart’s headquarters.
Where is the pro-life movement? Is it insufficiently alert to pharmacy boards and state representatives? Is the pro-life movement insufficient to form an alliance with Walmart? Is it possible the pro-life movement is nothing more than a creation of a political party and its only agenda is winning elections, and not the morality of abortion? By managing a few well-meaning do-gooders and their expectations, are the sophisticated political managers in fact suppressing the pro-life movement to prevent its success before it can deliver a political hegemony?
There are now so many members of congress, many of whom have claimed ties to the pro-life movement, linked to the Abramoff/Scanlon scandal, that at least one voice in the camp of the Christian worldview, World Magazine, actually questions whether reform is even possible. Indeed, the effort to get at the truth of that scandal has brought World Magazine into conflict with James Dobson and Focus on the Family. Worse, the Dobson group seems to be criticizing World for inquiring about Abramoff/Scanlon documents inferring a link to Dobson’s ministry, rather than simply addressing the issue openly. In other words, public discussions regarding integrity and conduct are just fine when directed at people evangelicals do not like, Democrats or liberals, or whatever label is in vogue, but abhorrent when directed at public para-church or church ministries. The double standard is apparent, and clearly unworkable.
The scandal makes it clear why congress has made so little progress on so many issues facing the nation. So many members of congress are following the money that many other issues, and abuses, are languishing from the lack of attention.
Don’t want to buy into a conspiracy theory? Don’t want to try and parse the truth between Dobson and World? Tell Walmart you won’t shop in a store that sells the “morning after†pill. Maybe then there will be a real pro-life movement.
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UPDATE (02/21/06): The day after this article was originally posted, Walmart, a publicly traded stock company, reported a fourth quarter 2005 increase in profits for the quarter of 13% to $3.6 billion.
