While Planned Parenthood is already a controversial topic in mainstream United States media, these past few weeks have seen Planned Parenthood come under even more fire than usual due to videos being released by an anti-abortion group. Unfortunately, both sides have boiled down the issues here to the point of being considered reductionistic, and a lot of the important dialogues that need to be had are simply being overlooked. On the one hand, Planned Parenthood seems to throw around buzzwords like "extremists" in order to garner support, appealing more to pathos than logos. On the other hand, we have the anti-Planned Parenthood crowd hoping that the worst case scenario is true in order that they can truly fire up that self-righteous indignation, rather than hoping that things aren't really as bad as they seem. Amidst this quagmire of pathos and ad hominem attacks, I've heard very little from both sides about helping mothers who choose to have their babies.

To lay my cards on the table, I'm actually more in alignment with the liberal side of politics, yes, even a strong central government, and I'm anti-abortion. That being said, I think it's absolutely asinine to be pro-birth while not supporting the government's ability to help these mother's take care of their children.

Personally, I wish we would have universal healthcare and the ability to help children not be born into dire straights. I think we have that ability, but I think human greed is far too severe to rely on charity, which I believe is self evident in the world. As a Christian, I believe Jesus calls us all to care for the widows, the orphans, and the poor, just to name a few. While I may disagree with other worldviews based on philosophical reasons, I think a good amount of people can say "amen" to caring for the disadvantaged.

So here's my question and a challenge mainly to fellow self-proclaimed pro-lifer's:

Do you just want a child born or a child born and taken care of? How about a child born or a child born and well fed? What about a child born or a child well educated also? See, the U.S. has a special career path that's typical for kids that lack all of those things, and while it's not 100% going to happen, gang life sucks up quite a lot of underprivileged youth which leads to more violence and more death. If we are only pro-birth, there's a chance we're bringing much more death into the world than if we had just let the abortion happen, which is heart breaking to say.

But, if we're willing to help care for, feed, and educate these children we so fervently claim to care about, then just maybe they have a better shot. Instead of shaming and condemning these mothers who got in over their head, if we come alongside and help them, then maybe the outlook isn't so grim for all of them. Is this a fail-safe plan? Of course not, this is life. But do I think it's better than the current situation? Absolutely.

Please, no matter the side you're on, I ask you to consider a future in which we don't abort unborn children, neither for the sake of selfish reasons nor perceived mercy killings, but instead we come together as a community to lend a hand to all children who are born.

We are the voters and we are the people. We hold the power to help these future children. Let us not turn a blind eye on them prior to being born nor after.