Pro life to me means you value innocent life. I don't have a huge issue with the death penalty in the cases where guilt is proven and the punishment fits the crime. I wouldn't have a huge issue if we banned the death penalty, but I also don't have any moral repugnance for it. I believe that actions have consequences, and at a certain point three meals and conjugal visits aren't a proper punishment for some crimes. I don't have a problem with just wars where life is being preserved in the process. I thought Bernie Sanders put it well when discussing this issue (although he was talking about the common conception that he is pacifist because he is cautious about war). For me being pro-life does not mean you have to be a pacifist. It means that you are actually evaluating the war for the ability of fighting to save innocent lives. There is always a death cost to war, so before entering in you should be sure that your motives are pure, and that you end goal is the protection of innocent life. If it isn't you shouldn't fight. Not sure how to answer the common refrain that conservatives don't love poor people and so it is hypocritical for them to want to avoid killing babies (it is a ridiculous argument in the first place). I am very passionate for the downtrodden in our society, and spend a great deal of time working to fight poverty and social injustice. I don't think you have to believe in a huge government safety net to have passion for the poor. I lean very moderate on those sort of issues anyway which puts me way left of my friends here in Mississippi, but would be way right of most of you on this board due to the liberal lean. I think we should investing way more in education than anything else. My big solution for poverty is more like Francis Underwood's America Works program than I would probably like to admit.
I hope that clears up any questions you. Next time avoid the 'i won't hold my breath' comment. I am here to engage. Just because my viewpoint on abortion is completely opposite of yours doesn't mean we can't discuss an issue honestly. I honestly feel a child is a child when they are conceived. I think that is validated medically. That child is unique from the moment the egg and sperm join. Any intentional effort to destroy that life is murder in my opinion. Fetus die, miscarriages happen, babies die, people die.....the two stages of life where we are most vulnerable are at the beginning and the end. We spend trillions of dollars protecting the last 10 years of life which half the time are miserable, while at the same time we have no issue crushing a young baby in the womb's head for convenience. I find it to be a disheartening sickness upon our generation, and my hope that is that one day our eyes will be opened to the horrors we have committed. I don't think slave owners in the US necessarily knew they were committing atrocities at the time. I think they rationalized, thought it was convenient, and couldn't imagine a world without slaves. My hope is that we move past abortion in the same manner we moved past slavery. I believe one day that will occur. Science is certainly on the side of life. We will see when our nation's conscience will catch up.