Catholic and Democrat, Because Born Lives Matter Too

Last updated on: January 18, 2024 at 3:35 pm by Julie Nichols

Catholic and Democrat, Because Born Lives Matter Too 2024-01-18T15:35:36-06:00 Julie Nichols

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Faith voters and those who value lives already born, I want to talk about the consistent life ethic. Today there is a battle going on within society and within the Church over the “pro-life” issue. As someone who serves in the disability community as an Educational Therapist, I can tell you definitively that the Democratic party is much more wholistically “pro-life” than the current Republican party. It is not “pro-life” to weaponize the abortion issue to wage war on other historically marginalized groups who live outside the womb. When I say this, the argument is, “the unborn is the most innocent.” Uh, what about disabled children? What about migrant mothers and their children? What about transgender children and their families? What about school-aged children not being shot in school? What about life-giving provisions for the most vulnerable among us? Are none of them innocent?

We will know what is true by the fruit that it yields, and long-standing Republican policies have not only not ended abortion, these now extreme policies are endangering the lives of many expectant mothers who have serious health issues and/ or high-risk pregnancies, ones I know personally, ones who need reproductive healthcare to save mothers’ lives, health, or ability to have children in the future.

Let’s review the current Republican policies which are endangering lives among us: draconian policies at the Texas border, anti-LGBTQ, particularly anti-trans laws/bills which terrorize these kids and their families, the recently lifted gun laws which have been proven to increase gun violence, efforts to significantly reduce or even slash life-giving funding for the most vulnerable among us, and increased division which results in more violence.

For 25 years, I was told that I wasn’t a “good Christian,” that I would “go to hell,” that I “supported evil,” if I even thought about voting Democrat. I did my homework by speaking to lifelong Catholic Democrats and speaking to those with LIVED experiences. I also finally joined all other disability practitioners in my field by voting FOR disability funding by voting Democrat instead of voting against the population that I serve by voting Republican who reduces disability funding. I also changed my party affiliation because I believe the right-wing of the Republican party has taken 15 to 20 Bible verses which talk about women being quiet, sexuality, and allowing women to make choices, and they have waged war on the poor and the disenfranchised who are supported and defended by 2,000 Bible verses and Catholic Social Teaching.

As a person who values life, I think it is unconscionable to trade unborn lives for lives outside the womb. I also think it’s insidious to usher in the same policies and ideology over the last 50 years which also ushered in Hitler. This is why I will be voting a straight blue ticket from now on, why I will campaign for the best Democratic candidates who are the only ones who support democracy, and why I had a shirt made four years ago which says, “Catholic and Democrat, because born lives matter too.” I will report any clergyman or lay leader to the IRS who tries to coerce my vote or anyone else’s that I witness.

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