"They still call it the White House, but that's a temporary condition," say the lyrics of the 1970s funk classic Chocolate City by Parliament-Funkadelic. This prophecy of sorts may have come true in the last several weeks, in the election of President Barack Obama. The unprecedented has happened - the United States of America has its first African American president.

  

Unfortunately, this incredible milestone in America's history is greatly overshadowed by his stance on life issues. Topics such as "a woman's right to choose" and "reproductive rights" have been constantly debated throughout his electoral campaign and in the time since his election. One of President Obama's early moves has been to remove the "gag rule", which banned federal funding to groups that perform, promote or even mention the possibility of abortion. While some say that he may have had sinister motives for doing so, the fact remains that this gag rule needed at least to be radically changed, because it was a short-sighted law which can be likened to using a band-aid on a deep, arterial wound.

  

Regardless of his reasons for abolishing this rule, Obama's views on abortion are quite clear. He has referred to babies as "punishment" for sexual mistakes

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=eNzmly28Bmg&NR=1

and is quite open about the "need" for partial-birth abortion; when he was a member of congress he voted against the Born Alive Infants Act which was intended to protect the lives of babies who survived the abortion procedure, many of whom had been thrown into medical waste bins and left to die, or actively "terminated" by doctors. Effectively, the current US president voted in favour of infanticide.

  

Many Christians were torn on which candidate to vote for – Obama or McCain. While it can be easy to focus only on one issue – that of abortion – one must remember that there are several factors in a candidate's political promises. For instance, Bush's administration was responsible for the deaths of thousands. His claim to be a "war president" could also be seen as a promise to send men to their graves. John McCain, in his campaign, promised to continue the wars which Bush began; effectively his promises, like Obama's, were to kill. So the question is this: Can one afford to be a single issue voter?

  

My answer is: When it comes to the protection of innocent life, yes. Why did Bush declare war on Muslim radicals? To protect innocent life. While I am not advocating or endorsing his decision, in declaring war after the September 11th attacks, he was attempting to protect the lives of his countrymen and women. In attempting to stop Bin Laden and Hussein, he was attempting to protect the lives of those under oppressive regimes. This is in line with Catholic teaching, which states that we as Christians must protect all innocent life, defend the defenceless, and topple oppressive regimes. Article 2273 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church states quite clearly; legislation must be provided to protect the lives of all innocents, particularly the most vulnerable – a child within its mother's womb. Laws which deny this protection and make it easier to abort undermine the "very foundation of a state."

  

Barack Obama spoke of change, and a change we have received. Not simply from Republican to Democrat, or the introduction of a black man into a succession of white men, but also the change in societal attitude. No longer does the government attempt to protect the lives of the most innocent; instead they protect "a woman's right to choose." I ask: Choose what? According to Catholic teaching, the choice to abort is ultimately choosing the eventual destruction of society.

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