In theory, that competition should put the pro-life movement in a strong position. We should be able to put pressure on politicians, ask them to make firm commitments, and throw our support only to those campaigners who fulfill all our demands. In practice, however, pro-life activists have been too willing to settle for lukewarm performance. Too many campaigners have captured pro-life support simply by making general statements, claiming to be pro-life, without producing hard evidence to prove their credentials. Once elected with the support of pro-life activists, too many politicians have been able to maintain that support by doing the absolute minimum-- continuing to make occasional public statements, but rarely taking action to advance pro-life legislation.
I concur.
Perhaps it's time we re-think our strategy here in Canada.
There are MP's who claim to be pro-life, but never lift a finger for the pro-life cause. They get votes for saying they're pro-life and being a Conservative or a member of a church.
Right now we have about 70 known pro-life MP's in Parliament. It would be better to have only 35 known pro-life MP's who work at the issue, than a bigger group that gets less done.
It is true that it could mean fewer votes in the House. But as it stands, we're not getting that much legislation presented, especially under a Stephen Harper government.
We need to get the legislation on the floor. That's how it starts. That's how we get our issue in the media, that's how we expose the feminists for the extremists that they are.
Perhaps we should have a strategy of voting out useless pro-lifers. If you're elected and you don't do a thing to attempt to advance the pro-life cause, we won't vote for you.
Mind you, it's a difficult course of action. I've gotten wind that some MP's work behind the scenes and deserve votes even though some pro-lifers believe that they don't.
The point of this is that we have to hold pro-life feet to the fire. Otherwise, nothing is going to happen.
