Abortion

· I believe that abortion ends a human life, a life that is separate from that of the mother.  

· I fully realize that many of my neighbors disagree with me and hold other beliefs. 

· Because I believe that a human life is in the balance, I cannot just walk away from the issue because we disagree on how to legislate abortion. I will always support what I believe to be true, but while I work to convince those on the other side of the issue, I will also look for any sliver of agreement that we can reach.

· One of the few areas of agreement I can identify is the goal to make abortion rare. Hillary Clinton campaigned on the theme of making abortion “safe, legal and rare.” I think we Republicans who are pro-life should encourage and assist Democrats to live up to that statement and work together to make rarity of abortion a reality.

· There are many good private and religious crisis pregnancy centers and adoption programs that provide women with alternatives to abortion. We need to look at bipartisan efforts to expand those programs, such as exploring public-private partnerships and the streamlining of adoption processes that can sometimes be overwhelming for families looking to adopt.

- Republicans should also use their influence with employers to encourage the expansion of on-site day care centers at workplaces suitable to provide them, in order to make careers easier for women choosing to keep their babies. Together with Democrats we can explore creating tax incentives for those employers.