Abortion was traditionally not a big issue among Republicans, but in the middle 1980s, concerned that making the rich richer wasn’t going to attract enough voters, Republicans cynically began to embrace right to life as an issue — not because of a deep, heartfelt concern about unborn children but simply to get votes from the evangelical Christians.

I don’t know when life begins, and I certainly don’t approve of murdering babies. But this huge concern over abortion seems a little half-baked when these same people seem to be just fine with U.S. policies that result in countless children and adults dying every day from malnutrition, war and neglect.

In my view, the best way to reduce abortion would be to make it safe, legal and extremely rare. We could achieve that by building a sane, functional and equitable society. Instead we’re doing just the opposite with wealth distribution worsening, teen suicide rates rising, opioid addiction ravaging communities, social media polarizing society and a small handful of huge corporations spoon feeding us nonsense for information. Perhaps it would help if Christians would start behaving more like that guy Jesus who they’re always talking about.

Robert Bolman

Eugene