'YES' on 5 Equals 'YES' for LIFE!

On July 31st, 2012, GOP voters across Georgia’s 159 counties will answer questions about casino gambling, licensing weapons, and limiting gifts to lobbyists – things that may be important to some, not so much to others.  How about some common ground here – something we all hold near and dear?

Certainly one thing we all share is life.

Commonly known as the “Life Amendment”, question number 5 on the July ballot will specifically ask:

“Should the Constitution of Georgia be amended so as to provide that the paramount right to life is vested in each innocent human being from his or her earliest biological beginning without regard to age, race, sex, health, function, or condition of dependency?”

Simply put, the amendment will focus on the rights of the preborn, the elderly, the disabled, and the infirm. The inalienable rights given to us by God and recognized by our founding fathers will no longer be ignored.  In essence, the life amendment is the human rights issue of the 21st Century!

While legalized abortion has been with us since 1973, it is painfully clear that human life at all stages is threatened as never before.  Indeed, technology was in its infancy in 1973 when Roe v Wade was decided.  The reality of life in the womb made possible with ultrasound did not exist.  Emerging technologies, such as cloning, transhumanism, and genoism, or even the science of organ donations were purely science fiction.  Ethics and legal protection lag far behind scientific possibilities and experimentation.  Your “YES” vote on the life amendment will help close the gap.

Look around and you’ll see – the prolife position is increasing all the time.  A 2010 straw poll in 47 counties across Georgia, found an astonishing 75% that said “YES” to life, even in predominantly Democratic counties!   A 2010 Gallup poll confirmed for a third time that more Americans call themselves prolife than prochoice on abortion, calling the prolife majority the “new normal” in the United States.

The first step is obvious:  our “YES” vote in July 2012 on the “Life Amendment”, Question 5, sends a clear message to Georgia Legislators that Georgians support laws that protect all human life.  Though non - binding, the results will hopefully begin the lengthy task of amending the Georgia Constitution and ultimately, may overturn the Roe v Wade decision.

As in any ‘hot button’ debate, we must expect opposition.  Be prepared.  Know the facts.  Share them with your family, friends and neighbors as you encourage them to get out and vote.

Legislation resulting from the “Life Amendment” will likely accomplish the following:

• The Life Amendment will provide respect and protection for all human life at all stages of development. How can anyone argue against the right to life for all guaranteed in our Declaration of Independence?

• Access to birth control and IVF procedures will continue.  RU 486 and the IUD would likely be prohibited because they are abortifacients and actually cause an abortion. IVF, however, would not allow for the destruction of unused embryos.

• Scientific research will continue, likely with adult stem cells, which does not result in the destruction/death of human life.

• There will be ‘life of the mother’ exceptions for abortion, but not for rape and incest.   The life amendment will not make miscarriage a crime or criminalize women in any way.

• End of life issues, including assisted suicide and euthanasia, will be reined in with a ‘life amendment’.

Thomas Jefferson declared, “The care of human life and happiness and not their destruction is the first and only object of good government.”   The prolife movement needs to re-establish that our rights come from God, not from the state.  The role of the state, then, is to protect the ‘paramount right to life’ in each and every one of us.

Your “YES” vote on 5 equals “YES” for LIFE!
More resources are available at www.grtl.org/votelife.