Kerrie's Important P.S. to her "Unofficial Poll"

An important P.S. to my “Unofficial Poll” email…..
Thanks for reading it! Kerrie

SHARE was founded as a homeschool support group, open to everyone that homeschools, no matter what their beliefs. The majority of families in SHARE are Christians, but all faiths (or non-faiths) and philosophies are welcome. In fact, one reason we started SHARE was to give an alternative to homeschool groups that were becoming more & more "inclusive." We feared those types of groups would destroy the homeschool movement and put people under "judgment." Homeschool groups are not churches. Ed & Cathy Mullins and Pat & I are your homeschool leader volunteers, not pastors or counselors. There are things that we as leaders feel strongly about, but we try to keep the SHARE forum and email loop focused on homeschool/education issues.

There are MANY different opinions in SHARE (and among Christians) about political topics - the 2008 candidates, healthcare, the economy, the war in Iraq, immigration, energy, the environment, etc. There are also lots of different opinions about homeschool/parenting topics - curriculum, teaching philosophies, spanking, dress code, dancing, music, dating, nutrition, dual enrollment, college, movies, video games, etc. SHARE has been a great place to dialogue and learn about other viewpoints. We love and support each other as friends and homeschoolers but sometimes have to "agree to disagree!"

There is one issue that seems to cause more division among us than any other – the topic of abortion, and the rights of the unborn. It is the one thing that is most important to our family during this election. In fact, if someone was the ideal pro-parental rights (pro-homeschooling) candidate, we could not vote for him if he was not also a pro-unborn baby candidate. Let me share why this issue has such a high priority in our family...

My mom was encouraged to have an abortion while carrying me because of taking DES and other anti-miscarriage drugs. My mother-in-law was a young unwed mother when she became pregnant with my husband. My grandmother was also a young unwed mother when she became pregnant with my dad. My doctors wanted me to have abortions with both Tyler and David to save my life and spare them from being born with birth defects (I had a rare pituitary tumor with many complications). My best friend and roommate became pregnant and contracted an STD as the result of a violent rape, but chose to keep her baby. My cousin decided not to abort her Down syndrome baby girl when my parents begged to raise her. We babysit Gideon, whose drug-addicted mom had already had 8 (state-funded) abortions before she unexpectedly delivered him, screaming for a partial birth abortion. For years I taught amazing deaf-blind students whose parents had been almost forced to have an abortion. The list could go on and on….

How different the world would’ve been if the women above had had an abortion. Some say I should be defending a women’s right to choose. I just can’t! I think we should be defending the pre-born baby’s right to live. Who speaks for them? Sounds like a pro-life cliché – but did the 48 million babies aborted since Roe v. Wade have a choice? My mother-in-law and grandmother, both pregnant before Roe v. Wade, say they would’ve had the abortion if it had be easier to obtain. I was in college when Roe v. Wade was passed. It was shocking how things changed once abortion was readily available. How many of my friends have been scarred (physically and mentally) by the abortions they had during those years. What would their babies have grown up to be?

I used to keep quiet about my pro-life convictions, afraid to seem judgmental or “right wing.” But one day that all changed – the day one of my good friends had a semi-late term abortion (unsympathetic boyfriend, angry parents and possible loss of an art school scholarship) while another friend delivered her twins prematurely. All babies were at the same gestation and “born” on the same day, and yet in one room at the hospital they were killing a baby, and in another room they were trying to save babies. It was like a horrific science fiction movie!

We are involved in an American history homeschool co-op that has been discussing the horrors of slavery and how it was allowed to take place in our county. It has been heart-wrenching to read about that time in our country’s history. Why was human life so de-valued and the African Americans (and Native Americans & others) treated so cruelly…even by Christians? What a shameful part of our past. The students have asked – isn’t the issue of abortion going to polarize our country just as the issue of slavery did? Isn’t it even a more important human rights issue? Through abortion, aren’t we devaluing human life just as we did back then? They wonder why more African Americans don’t speak out against abortion, since their babies are a large percentage of the ones being aborted each day. My son Dave (one of the sons they wanted me to abort) just told me that it is estimated that 645,000 African American slaves were first brought to the United States from 1600-1800. By 1860, the census recorded 4 million slaves in the U.S. He wonders how many of the 48 million babies (aborted since Roe v. Wade was passed in 1973) were African American? Sadly, it is a lot more than 4 million!

I was just reading my son Tyler’s posts about “the rights of the unborn” on Facebook.(one of the other sons the doctors said I should abort) He is in his first year of medical school at UAB, studying for genetics, embryology and medical ethics exams. He wonders, as medical technology advances, will we keep changing our definition of when “life” is viable? Does life really begin when a baby can live on its own? If so, shouldn’t a mother be able to kill her 3-month old baby (as Princeton professor Peter Singer believes) if she feels like it? How about someone like 19-year-old Jesse Mullins? Should Cathy have the right to terminate the life of her disabled son? After all, he is dependent on her for his life and would die without her support.

Because of our strong feelings about the rights of the unborn, our family just cannot vote for a candidate – or party – that is “pro-choice.” We don’t like to be “one-issue” voters – but this issue is literally “life and death.” For us, it pales in comparison to all others…even the parental right to homeschool. It doesn’t take a political science major to know which party and candidates make a stand for the rights of the unborn. The Democratic and Republican platforms make it very clear. Barak Obama and John McCain have made it very clear. I guess you can figure out who we will be voting for!

Please forgive me if I’ve offended you by posting this on a homeschool website – but many of you have asked about my views and I would be gutless if I didn’t speak up. I am certainly not trying to judge anyone – I have friends that are strongly pro-choice, have had multiple abortions, and have encouraged their daughters & granddaughters to have abortions (I wonder if their great- granddaughters will find it harder or easier to terminate their unborn babies?). But – in a way this topic does relate to homeschooling. It makes me sad that the same party that wants to restrict our parental rights to homeschool, also wants to restrict the rights of the unborn. PLEASE think about that when you vote on Tuesday.

If you are not sure where the candidates stand on protecting the rights of the unborn, these websites and YouTube videos might be helpful…

http://www.nrlc.org/ National Right to Life – pro-life voting record of candidates and other invaluable info

http://www.missourilife.org/ Missouri Right to Life

www.jillstanek.com/ Website of Illinois nurse and pro-life activist Jill Stanek, who first testified about the Born Alive Infants Protection Act.

http://www.nationalblackprolifeunion.com/African American pro-life organization based n Washington D.C.

http://www.physiciansforlife.org/Physicians pro-life group - good source for reliable statistics

http://www.abortionbreastcancer.com/ Info about possible link between abortion and breast cancer

http://www.priestsforlife.org/Lots of info, along with “Portfolio of Aborted Babies” put together by priests and physicians (warning – 100’s of graphic pictures of real aborted babies)

www.democrats.org/agenda.html Democratic Party Platform

www.gop.com/2008Platform Republican Party Platform

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYRpIf2F9NA&feature=related%C2%A0%C2%A0 Jill Stanek talks about Obama and the Illinois Born Alive Infants Protection Act

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mem_xEcZHVY&feature=related McCain & Obama on abortion in 50 seconds - from Saddleback interview

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xkT_W5l9-k&feature=related Alan Keyes talking about Obama and Infanticide

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pf0XIRZSTt8&feature=related Obama promising Planned Parenthood that the first thing he'll do as President is sign the FOCA (Freedom of Choice Act)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbZJYWjkAPo&NR=1 Obama says he wouldn't want daughters "punished" with a baby