That's not pro-life

A few recent events:

• Congress fails to renew the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) putting health insurance for 9 million low income kids at risk. 
• 59 dead in a mass shooting in Las Vegas followed by the predictable silence combined with a defense of the everyone’s right to own 43 guns by the Republicans.
• The president threatening to cut off aid to Puerto Rico out because his feeling were apparently hurt by the mayor of San Juan. The island is still largely without power and drinking water and reports of disease are starting to spread.
• Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Purdue yesterday floated the idea of cutting working people from food stamps. 
• And in the last 24 hours, actions by Trump to destabilize the (admittedly flawed) Obamacare market will likely cause millions to lose coverage and access to healthcare when subsidies are cancelled. Various estimates from the CBO and the New England Journal of Medicine estimate between 26,000 and 96,00 deaths due to the loss of insurance coverage. 

This administration and the Republican Party have long claimed to be the “pro-life” party. These are not “pro-life” positions. Pro-life means access to health-care and prenatal care. It means living wages and drug treatment programs and an end to mass incarceration so families can stay together. Pro-life means working through diplomacy vs. intentionally agitating an unstable despot with war mongering rhetoric. I’ll leave it for the reader to decide if I am referring to Trump of Kim Jong-Un. It means ensuring access to education, nutrition, and clean air and water. It means reasonable controls on access to guns. And it means welcoming victims of war and famine sanctuary and safety in our country. Pro-life means honoring the basic dignity in all people.

This administration and the GOP congress claim to be pro-life, but their actions belie their words. Saying it doesn't make it so.