Yeah, I know people aren’t enthusiastic about voting this year. I’m not. Please do it anyway.

I know David Price isn’t the most charismatic guy in the world. He votes a progressive agenda and generally has done a good job of representing the Triangle, but…hmmm…maybe he’s been in D.C. too long… Who’s this young, chipper guy B.J. Lawson who runs every two years? He can’t be that bad. (After all, his wife looks like Tipper Gore.) A Republican running in this district has to be moderate, right?

Well, here’s Lawson on reproductive rights:

We can either be a pro-life culture or a pro-death culture. I choose life. Only in extreme cases should abortion be considered and only as a medical decision where the health and life of the mother are in jeopardy. In cases of rape or incest, I believe there is a difference between emergency contraception to prevent pregnancy versus termination of a known and viable pregnancy. In any case, I believe the federal government should define life as beginning at conception, and leave strategies for reducing abortions to state governments.

I know I’ve got friends who will vote for Lawson, in some part of large part, because of this position. But I’m betting the majority of the people I know and who will vote find this position to be at least bit disturbing.

In any event, I think we can all agree that 2/3 of B.J. Lawson’s platform is B.S.:
Less Government…really?
More Freedom…uh, huh.

If you would like to hear from the candidates, Bull City Rising is co-sponsoring a debate this Friday evening. It was this BCR post that pointed me to Lawson’s positions. If you lean left, as I do, or don’t tend to lean in any particular direction, I hope you’ll realize that it really is in our best interest to keep David Price in the House representing us.

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On a related note, it sure is uncomfortable blogging about such a sensitive subject. I want to add a note to those people I know who are “pro-life” (I really do hate both the labels “pro-life” and “pro-choice”). One can think abortion is horrible and believe that one would never have one or condone a partner having one or condone anyone they know having one and still believe the government should not determine when and under which circumstances women can have the procedure. Some people are firm in being at the absolute ends of the spectrum of this debate. I don’t care to state for the record exactly where I stand. But I do know that this candidate’s position, and I do respect that he has a very specific, on-the-record position, scares the hell out of me.