Taking It Back: How Democrats Can Reinvent the Meaning of "Pro-Life" During the Global Pandemic

What do you think of when you hear the phrase pro-life?

For many of us here, we think of crackpot Republican nutjobs, willing to protest and even escalate to violence in order to support the lives of the unborn. It is a faction of the GOP that arose as a result of the Roe v. Wade decision and over the past 40+ years it has shown itself to be a most destructive force in modern conservative politics. The pro-life movement has been most prevalent in the red states, where a Democratic politician is immediately behind the eightball if he or she happens to be pro-choice. It has become a litmus test for modern American politics, with the overwhelming majority of Republicans siding with the pro-life crowd and the majority of Democrats siding with the pro-choice crowd. In my lifetime, it has been the most polarizing issue that has come to define the differences between the Republican and Democratic parties.

But what does it truly mean to be pro-life?

For as long as I can remember, I have been dismayed at the Democrats' messaging on this issue. Sure, Republicans claim to be pro-life but their views are in no way in favor of society's overall wellbeing. They might be pro-fetus but after birth a child is on his or her own. It was none other than comedian George Carlin whose 1996 segment on pro-live conservatives still rings true 25 years later. Once a child is conceived, he or she is on their own. We see this through Republican views on the social safety net for struggling families, on views of environmental protections, on views of access to health care for women and especially low-income women of color, on views of gun violence prevention, and on views of access to affordable education among other things. As Carlin bluntly states, "Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers." Harsh, but true. Without poverty-stricken White boys from underfunded rural communities, there would never be enough of an all-volunteer army to help fund the modern military-industrial complex.

Democrats know all this. They know they are the only party advocating for policies that actually enhance the lives of each and every citizen. Democratic presidential administrations consistently lead to more employment, better environmental regulations, fewer military interventions abroad, a more just and humane immigration policy, and finally, after nearly 60 years of trying, a reformed healthcare system. In addition, over the past 3 years, Democratic governors and mayors have stepped up in the absence of federal government leadership on these issues. We've seen cities and states commit to climate goals, despite the Trump Administration pulling us out of the Paris Climate Agreement. We've seen cities and states commit to gun violence prevention due to an NRA stranglehold of congressional Republicans. We've seen cities and states commit to protecting the LGBTQ community with workplace protections without the GOP Senate taking up the Equal Rights Amendment. And we've seen cities and states work to increase the minimum wage to give an added economic boost to our unsung heroes in the workforce.

But nowhere have we seen the modern Democratic Party be more pro-life than during the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the past 6 weeks, we've seen states with Democratic leadership rise to the forefront of care and concern of the wellbeing of their citizens while Republican leadership has chosen to ignore science and common sense. While states with Republican governors like Georgia, Florida, Texas, and South Dakota seem intent on endangering the lives of as many as their citizens as possible, it has been the steady hand of blue state governors that have listened to scientists and other experts and have begun to flatten the curve. Not only have blue state governors done what is in the best interest of their own citizens but they've got gone above and beyond for others, with California's sending of 500 ventilators to New York as a prime example of this camaraderie. As a series of Trump sycophants risk the lives of their own citizens in order to get in Derp Fuhrer's good graces, Democratic governors are refusing to endanger their citizens to score some futile political points. At the end of the day, Democratic governors are doing their jobs while most Republican governors are doing the president's bidding.

Now is the time for Democrats to create a new wave of political messaging and retake the pro-life mantra from the GOP. In the age of a global pandemic, being pro-life has now become more than simply feigning concern for an unborn fetus. Being pro-life has now come to mean protecting the lives of the living. It is this new perspective that the Democratic Party must capitalize on. They, and only they, are the party working to protect life. They are the party that is listening to the experts and scientists. They are the party protecting its citizens while Republicans are attempting to lead them like lambs to slaughter. They are the party advocating for smart and safe voting while Republicans are forcing citizens to the voting booth during a pandemic. They are the party demanding federal funds for masks, ventilators, and PPE. They are the party looking out for society's most vulnerable populations while Republicans have gone on record by saying they are perfectly okay with sacrificing the weak in order to try and jumpstart the economy. While Republicans are bitching about a lack of access to barbers and brunch, Democrats are working day and night to protect everyone from our progeny to our pensioners. That is the story that Democrats need to share.

And it can be done with a simple paradigm shift. All Democrats need to do is to start talking about their policies from a public health and public safety perspective. Imagine how powerful it would be to hear a Democratic politician say, "I want to protect life in all its stages and here's how I'll do it." That phrasing right there immediately challenges Republican exclusivity on the pro-life label. Democrats can then go on the offensive by saying, "What policies do you support that protect the lives our most vulnerable?" Viola! Now we have a conversation where it becomes apparent that being pro-life can and should be more than just protecting the lives of the unborn. By shifting the conversation in this way, Democratic incumbents and Democratic challengers can get at the heart of what we've been seeing these past 6 weeks: a Republican Party that is absolutely callous when it comes to human life. Now that the curtain has been pulled, it's time for Democrats at the national, statewide, and local level to show everyone how the "pro-life party" never truly cared about all its people and instead, hid behind that mantra hoping their lie would never be exposed.

Now that it has, voters need to be reminded of it each and every day until November 3rd.