Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Be Truthful When Changing Positions on Abortion

In response to a recent editorial by State Representative Brandon Dillon discussing his position change on abortion, Right to Life of Michigan's Genevieve Marnon sent the following editorial to MLive.com.


State Representative Brandon Dillon has made a very public statement about his “evolution” from defending the right to life of babies preparing to be born to being an advocate of the legal “right” to kill babies through abortion.

While I commend Dillon for being attuned to the social conditions affecting abortion, he never explained why he stopped believing it was a violation of basic human rights and civility to kill an innocent unborn human being. For him, abortion is now only about the woman's perspective and the circumstances of her life. The moral status of the most defenseless members of the human family is no longer relevant to him.

He claims that life is precious, but in his new opinion, human life before birth is no longer worthy of being protected from violent death.  Dillon says that conversations with women helped change his mind. What about the millions of prolife women in Michigan, like me, who desire protecting the unborn and helping women?  And, shouldn’t the rights of the 13,000 female babies killed through abortion each year in Michigan matter, too?

As justification for abandoning his prolife position, Dillon cites life-affirming laws -- yet blatantly mis-characterizes those laws. For example, he stated that a 2012 law requiring the licensing and inspection of abortion clinics was “nothing more than an attempt to harm women.” For 40 years abortion businesses were allowed to operate unchecked by the state which resulted in horrific conditions at some. In truth, that law shut down the unsafe abortion businesses and brought health standards to those businesses remaining.

Dillon also claims a 2013 law which removed elective abortion coverage from standard insurance plans was so “extreme” it would deny coverage of treatment for a woman who has a miscarriage. The law's text clearly indicates the treatment of miscarriages isn't included in the definition of elective abortion.

It is a sad day when someone who once believed it was his job to make laws protecting all human beings abandons that belief. It is Rep. Dillon's prerogative to change his views; however, he is not entitled to put forward falsehoods to justify himself. Switch sides if you will, but please have the decency not to offer deceptive information as cover for your decision.