“Would you send us a get well card or a sympathy card?” That was the question I asked my colleagues in the Wisconsin State Assembly during the debate on a piece of pro-life legislation.
The bill under consideration created a separate crime for someone who took the life of an unborn child while injuring the mother. It came from the case of a pregnant woman who was beaten by her estranged husband. The prosecutors could only charge him for battery against her and not for the death of her unborn child.
I rose to the floor that day in the state Capitol and described a hypothetical situation about my own family. “Imagine my wife and I were in our minivan,” I said, “and a drunk driver rammed into us, injuring Tonette and killing our unborn child. Would you send us a get well card or a sympathy card?”
Any decent person would send the couple a card expressing their sympathy. It is a perfectly normal human instinct to mourn the loss of a child. So why don’t some people feel the same way about abortion?
Science shows us that an unborn baby is a human being. Long before birth, we have hands, feet, and a heartbeat.
Tonette and I saw that after we saw an ultrasound picture of our firstborn son, Matthew. He was on his side with his hand out. It looked like he was sucking his thumb. We were already pro-life, but that moment cemented our beliefs. We could see our unborn child. It furthered our commitment to protecting all unborn children.
“What do you think about reproductive rights?” A voter asked that of me when I knocked on his door years ago during my first campaign for the state Legislature.
With that in mind, I politely responded that I could tell by the way he asked the question that we were probably not going to agree but that he deserved an honest answer to his question.
“I am pro-life” was my response. “My wife Tonette and I both believe that an unborn baby is a human being in need of protection. While we understand that there are often difficult situations around a pregnancy, we still believe that an unborn baby needs protection — just like a newborn baby needs protection from dangerous situations.”
“You passed the test” were the next words out of his mouth. He let me know that most politicians tell voters what they think the voters want to hear, instead of what the candidate really thinks. He immediately signed my nomination forms and offered to put up a yard sign.
Roe v. Wade is likely to be overturned sometime soon. When the time comes, candidates can’t dismiss it as a federal issue or something that has to be decided by the courts. We need champions for life.
The U.S. legal system is filled with statutes defending the best interests of a child. How is life not in the best interest of the unborn? These are the points that candidates and elected officials need to be prepared to make to the public.
It has been my privilege to meet so many wonderful children who have so much love for the parents who adopted them and the birth mother who gave them the gift of life. To protect life in a post-Roe world, we need to share these stories of love and compassion.
Scott Walker was the 45th governor of Wisconsin and currently serves as the president of Young America’s Foundation, the principal outreach organization of the conservative movement.
