I am following the feeds on the appearance of President Obama on the Notre Dame Campus.  I am reminded of all the other campus protests that have preceded this one including Kent State.  Latest polls put the sentiment at 51% pro life up from 44% a year ago.  The latest Gallup survey finds 23 percent saying it should be illegal in all circumstances, 22 percent saying it should be legal under any circumstances, and 53 percent saying it should be legal only under certain circumstances.  According to the survey Gallup said its new poll showed an increase in the pro-life position across Christian religious affiliations, including an eight-point gain among Protestants and a seven-point gain among Catholics. It also reported a 10-point shift toward the pro-life category among Republicans but said there was no significant change among Democrats.

What are we to make of this shift in only a year?  Are we to believe that Democrats are unmovable in this debate?   Is it because we now have a pro-choice President and the pro-life folks are coming out and being heard?  Is the poll flawed?  Reminds me of all the recent Tea Parties that brought thousands out to their first rally in their life.  I believe for the first time since maybe WWII, Americans are getting involved in politics and the governing of their country in record numbers.   Will the President and his administration label the protesters as right wing kooks as they did with the Tea Party movement?  A common enemy will unite unrelated people groups from all cultures to fight.  Has Obama’s lack of political and tactical experience united and awakened a huge segment of America that otherwise would have lain dormant?

By speaking at a Catholic institution, are we to believe the Catholic Church is now looking the other way on abortion?  Not according to the Pope, but here we are debating the issues again.  Do we give a President carte blanche to speak anywhere regardless of his policies, because he is the President?  Should we be teaching tolerance of others even though they have opposing views?  I have more questions than answers.  One question I can answer is that in the pro-life scenario, no one dies!  How many of you are alive today because your Mom made a decision to give birth?  How many young and old mothers struggled with this issue upon the news that they were pregnant?  How many moms never told anyone of the debate they had within themselves at your conception.  I’ll bet you are happy they chose you instead of an abortion today.

What happens if we outlaw abortion?  Does Tijuana become the abortion capital to the United States?  Do we arrest returning women at the borders upon re-entry?  Do we create a new Government agency just to track women going over the border for a emergency vacation?  This issue is more complex to just give it 500 words and an easy solution.  Are we to tell a woman what she can and cannot do to her body?  I am a pro-lifer.  But if a woman elects to have an abortion, it is between her doctor and her God, and not me.  I will not sit in judgement of someone else, that is not for me to do.

What I can tell you is that I am 100% glad to be alive right now!  No ifs, ands or buts!  How about you?

Paul Smith, your next Congressman from Sacramento. Www.PaulSmithforCongress.org