I’m a single issue voter

Figure 1. What happens to 100 conceptions, by place

Each dot is one place: a US state, Canadian province or country. The selected place is outlined.

Tap a dot or choose a place.

The map shows places where governments count births and voluntary abortions. Each card splits 100 conceptions into their statistical outcomes: live births, voluntary abortion, and spontaneous losses (including undocumented abortions). Births and abortions are reported counts; the remainder is calculated, assuming half of conceptions are lost without an abortion, a mid-range estimate.20 Where abortion is rarer, the spontaneous-to-abortion ratio is higher because the number of abortions is small, not because more conceptions are lost. Researchers have documented arrests of and forced interventions on pregnant women, including cases involving pregnancy loss.23 Years and counting methods differ by place.

Faith and the law

God gave the commandment “Do not kill” (Exodus 20:13).31 Jewish law, as recorded in the Talmud, does not treat a fetus as a person until birth. Yevamot 69b calls it “mere water” for the first forty days, and Rashi on Sanhedrin 72b says it is not a person until born.25,28 Throughout pregnancy, Jewish teaching treats the fetus as part of its mother’s body until birth.25,33 Some rabbis describe the moment of personhood as the first breath, pointing to Genesis 2:7, where God “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”26,27,32,31 The Hebrew text of Exodus 21:22–23 punishes causing a miscarriage with a fine; “life for life” applies only if further harm follows. The Greek Septuagint reads differently, applying “life for life” if the fetus is fully formed.29

The idea that life begins at conception arose after Jesus lived, so it cannot be shown to be something he believed, and the Gospels record no teaching from him on when life begins.31 Several Church Fathers instead held that the soul arrives later, at 30 to 90 days, a view that remained valid through the Middle Ages. Immediate ensoulment at fertilization originated in the 15th century and, in one history’s account, became Catholic dogma in 1869.24 Catholic sources add that the 1869 declaration left the timing of ensoulment aside.34

Jesus was a Jewish teacher addressed as “Rabbi” in the Gospels.30 The passages below record his two greatest commandments.31

Matthew 22:34–40
Mark 12:28–34

Figure 2. Nolan chart

love God above all else cultural focus on individual cultural focus on community economic focus on community love others as you love yourself economic focus on individual

How abortion became a mobilizing issue

After the civil rights movement, the Republican Party needed a voter base that did not depend on open appeals to segregation.35,40 Historians describe how New Right strategists such as Paul Weyrich and Richard Viguerie built that base in the 1970s around social issues.37 Randall Balmer traces the Religious Right’s organizing to the defense of segregation academies and argues that abortion was adopted later because it could mobilize evangelical voters at scale.35,36 A 1982 analysis described the plan: make abortion and other social issues salient, enlist single-issue groups, and get voters to vote on the issue rather than on party.38 Kristin Kobes Du Mez dates abortion’s rise as a mobilizing force to 1979, when Weyrich identified it as a way to build the Moral Majority.39

Church-goers are consistent voters, and a voter who is told that one issue decides everything has no reason to look at anything else. You are supposed to be a one-issue voter so that you don’t look into the policies that eliminate services and start everlasting wars. People have been manipulated to vote against their own interests in the name of a problem that is not being addressed honestly.

Bibliography

  1. CDC. Abortion Surveillance, United States, 2022 (Table 2: Mississippi, Texas, Utah, Florida, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Colorado, Oregon, New York). PMC11616987
  2. CIHI induced abortion counts by province, 2023 (New Brunswick, Ontario, British Columbia), as compiled by the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada. arcc-cdac.ca
  3. Statistics Canada, live births 2023 (Table 13-10-0415), as republished by the Nunavut Bureau of Statistics. Link to be added.
  4. Socialstyrelsen. Statistik om aborter 2025. socialstyrelsen.se
  5. Statistics Sweden. Sweden’s population 2025. scb.se
  6. Norwegian Institute of Public Health, abortions 2025; Statistics Norway, births 2025 (two tables differ slightly). Link to be added.
  7. UK Department of Health and Social Care, Abortion statistics for England and Wales 2023; births from ONS as cited in the press. Link to be added.
  8. DREES (France). Interruptions volontaires de grossesse 2024. Link to be added.
  9. Italian Ministry of Health. Report on the implementation of Law 194, 2023 data. Link to be added.
  10. Japan Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. Administrative report, FY2023 abortions; vital statistics, 2023 births. Link to be added.
  11. Inspectie Gezondheidszorg en Jeugd (Netherlands). Jaarrapportage Wet afbreking zwangerschap, 2023 and 2024. Link to be added.
  12. Department of Health (Ireland), Termination of Pregnancy notifications 2023; Central Statistics Office, births registered 2023. Link to be added.
  13. Poland, Ministry of Health, legal abortions 2023; births from Statistics Poland. Link to be added.
  14. New Zealand Ministry of Health, abortions 2023 (Official Information Act response); Stats NZ, births 2023. Link to be added.
  15. Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, pregnancy termination committees, 2024. Link to be added.
  16. Uruguay Ministry of Public Health. Informe IVE 2013–2024. gub.uy; births 2023: DIGESA 2023
  17. Vedomosti analysis of Rosstat registered abortions, 2025, as reported in the press. Link to be added.
  18. Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs. Estimates of induced abortion in South Korea: health facilities survey (2020 estimate). scholar.korea.ac.kr; Statistics Korea, births 2020.
  19. Johnston’s Archive. Abortion statistics for Singapore. johnstonsarchive.net (secondary compilation); births from the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority.
  20. Jarvis GE (2016). Early embryo mortality in natural human reproduction: what the data say. F1000Research. PMC5443340
  21. Wilcox AJ et al. (1988). Incidence of early loss of pregnancy. N Engl J Med 319(4):189–194. doi
  22. Global Library of Women’s Medicine, chapter on early pregnancy loss (10–12% clinical first-trimester loss). Link to be added.
  23. Paltrow LM, Flavin J (2013). Arrests of and forced interventions on pregnant women in the United States, 1973–2005. J Health Polit Policy Law 38(2):299–343. journal page
  24. Journal of Perinatal Medicine (2016), history of ensoulment and the beginning of human life. doi 10.1515/jpm-2016-0404
  25. Rabbinical Assembly. Responsum on abortion (life begins at birth; Mishnah Niddah 3:7, Yevamot 69b, Rashi and Yad Ramah on Sanhedrin 72b). rabbinicalassembly.org
  26. Moment Magazine. Ask the Rabbis: When does life begin? momentmag.com
  27. Sefaria. The Torah of Abortion Justice (source sheet). sefaria.org
  28. JTA (2019). What Jewish law really says about abortion (Yevamot 69b). jta.org
  29. Pearse R (2021). Ancient references to Jewish attitudes to abortion (Exodus 21:22–23 Hebrew and Septuagint; Josephus; Philo). roger-pearse.com
  30. Jerusalem Perspective. Doesn’t the Bible call Jesus a rabbi? jerusalemperspective.com; Ehrman B. Was Jesus a rabbi? bartehrman.com
  31. Biblical texts: Genesis 2:7 (King James Version); Exodus 20:13; Exodus 21:22–23; Matthew 22:34–40; Mark 12:28–34.
  32. Silver B. Affidavit (Reform rabbi) on Genesis 2:7 and the first breath. rabbibarrysilver.com
  33. Exploring Judaism. Life begins at birth; the fetus as part of its mother’s body (ubar yerekh imo). exploringjudaism.org
  34. Catholic Weekly. Q&A with Fr Flader: Has the Church ever allowed abortion? catholicweekly.com.au
  35. Balmer R (2014). The real origins of the religious right. Politico (reprint). portside.org
  36. Slate (2014). The religious right formed around support for segregation, not against abortion. slate.com
  37. Political Research Associates (2009). Remembering the New Right: political strategy and the building of the GOP coalition. politicalresearch.org
  38. Christian Science Monitor (1982). The hidden strategy of the New Right. csmonitor.com
  39. NPR (2022). How abortion became a mobilizing issue among the religious right (interview with Kristin Kobes Du Mez). kunc.org
  40. Washington Monthly (2014). The origins of the modern GOP (commentary). washingtonmonthly.com