The basic principle of pro-life voting is the following: being pro-abortion (or "pro-choice") disqualifies a person for public office. This includes those who claim to be "personally opposed" to abortion, but are unwilling to do anything to stop it.

The right to life is the fundamental human right, on which every other right depends. It follows that no matter how attractive a particular candidate’s policies on other issues may be, if he is anti-life, he is unworthy of support.

Pro-lifers are often accused of being "single-issue" when it comes to voting. This is true, in a sense. If you believe that the killing of innocent human beings is gravely wrong, your conscience will not permit you to vote for someone who is pro-abortion—no matter what.

On the other hand, the "single-issue" accusation is quite false. Pro-lifers are concerned about a host of life issues which are distinct from abortion, like euthanasia and reproductive technologies—not to mention the spectrum of pro-family concerns which pro-lifers generally share.

It should also be noted that in fact most people become politically involved because of special concerns about particular issues. The GST, gun control, national unity, the free trade agreement—concerns about each of these issues have led individuals into politics, and have even led to the formation of new parties. Pro-lifers are by no means unique in this.

But in the end, it must be admitted that no issue comes close to being as important as the abortion issue. Some people say that other "social problems" are equally important; but how many of those problems involve the deliberate killing of well over 100,000 Canadians every year?

How to vote pro-life

Often it happens that there is no pro-life candidate in a riding. In such a situation, a pro-life voter might write across the ballot, "No pro-life Liberal," or "No pro-life Reformer," etc. (In other words, there is no pro-life candidate running for the party which that voter would otherwise support.)

This is not a waste of a vote. On the contrary, since "spoiled ballots" are recorded, such statements can send a powerful message to the parties and candidates, and affect their policies in the future.

When there is no pro-life candidate in a riding, and the pro-abortion incumbent is influential, some pro-lifers advocate voting against the sitting MP, in order to reduce the power of the anti-life movement in Parliament.

Whatever the situation, pro-lifers should go to the polls on election day. The absence of a pro-life candidate in a given riding is no reason to stay away.

Pro-life voters should be loyal to those MPs who are fighting the good fight

Some pro-lifers might think that a candidate belonging to certain party is unworthy of support, even if that candidate has a solid pro-life record, because the party as a whole is anti-life. Well-deserved criticism of the Liberal Party’s treatment of its pro-life wing, for example, or of the Reform Party’s "consensus policy," might lead people to dismiss individual candidates out of hand.

It is important to remember, however, that in the end, what matters is the position of the individual candidate. There are many genuinely pro-life politicians in anti-life parties who have had the courage to act according to their consciences, even when it has meant defying their parties and party leaders, and who have willingly suffered the consequences.