I'm pro-life because I'm conservative

A friend of mine, Adam Hasner (who, by the way is running for U.S. Senate in Florida), had a great piece on NRO today, the sad anniversary of Roe v. Wade, explaining how being a conservative led him to be pro-life.

A taste:

As the son of liberal Democrats, I didn’t inherit my pro-life views or have them ingrained in me by schooling or my institutions of faith.

I have listened to the stories of people explaining how viewing an ultrasound for the first time or the experience of becoming a father or a mother can solidify a belief in the sanctity of life. I have not experienced this either.

And yet I still arrived at the conclusion that every life is sacred from conception until natural death. That is because we cherish life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness in this country, and those rights should extend to every life, born and unborn.

I arrived at these conclusions because, before I ever really thought of the abortion issue, I was a conservative. ... Being pro-life isn’t just a moral issue ... it’s a historical and constitutional one. ...

I have a much deeper faith today, and I find pride and comfort in Judaism’s historical defense of life. But I know that conservatism helped set me on the path.

That’s why I recoil whenever I hear people — even those within my own party — say we need to get away from social issues. Or that we’re “on the losing side” of the marriage debate, or the sanctity of life argument. The defense of life just doesn’t “move voters,” I’ve heard more than one consultant say.

I hope that never becomes the majority view in our movement. If it does, we will never earn the right to be the governing majority in America, nor will we deserve to.

Read the whole thing.