By Carol Tobias

In 1776, when our founding fathers were creating this wonderful new country, John Adams wrote, “It has been the will of Heaven that we should be thrown into existence at a period when the greatest philosophers and lawgivers of antiquity would have wished to live ... a period when a coincidence of circumstances without example has afforded to thirteen colonies at once an opportunity of beginning government anew from the foundation and building as they choose. How few of the human race have ever had an opportunity of choosing a system of government for themselves and their children? How few have ever had anything more of choice in government than in climate?”

Whether you consider this country to be blessed, fortunate, or just lucky, we have a system of government that allows for a regular, peaceful process to take place as we choose our leaders through a democratic system.

Many countries have recently undergone less-than-pleasant changes in leadership. Sometimes the new government is good, other times not so good. Many people around the world have as much influence on their government as they do on the weather.

For more than 200 years, we have been able to watch and listen and participate as candidates campaign—seeking our support and eventually our votes. We evaluate, we compare, we judge, then we elect.

The actions and decisions of the person holding the highest office in the land is critical to so much of what we do. Let’s look at the records of our last two presidents.

Elected in 2000, George W. Bush was unquestionably a pro-life president. As one of his first acts in the White House, President Bush re-instituted the “Mexico City Policy,” so that our tax funds would not be given to organizations that perform or promote abortion overseas. His Administration cut off funding for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) because of that agency’s involvement in China’s compulsory-abortion program.

President Bush signed into law the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act, and legislation to prevent health care providers from being penalized by the federal, state, or local governments for not providing abortions.

President Bush threatened to veto any bill that weakened any existing pro-life policy. His strong position prevented successful attacks on the Hyde Amendment, which prevents tax dollars from being used to pay for abortions in the Medicaid program.

President Bush strongly advocated a complete ban on human cloning, and helped defeat “clone and kill” legislation. His administration played a key role in the adoption by the United Nations General Assembly of their declaration calling on member nations to ban all forms of human cloning, and in including language in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which protects persons with disabilities from being denied food, water, and medical care.

Pro-life President Bush was succeeded by President Barack Obama. On his second day in office, President Obama reaffirmed his commitment to Roe v Wade. He overturned the Mexico City Policy and released millions of dollars to the United Nations Population Fund. His administration threatened to cut off ALL Medicaid funds to Indiana because it voted to stop tax funding of Planned Parenthood.

Even more far-reaching is how President Obama is impacting our health care system. In 2010, Congress passed and President Obama signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. This law contains multiple provisions authorizing federal subsidies for abortion, and additional provisions on which future abortion-expanding regulatory mandates may be based.

The law also contains multiple provisions that will result in government-imposed rationing of lifesaving medical care.

The Obama health care law will enshrine abortion and rationing of health care in our society for generations to come, if we don’t stop it.

The choice before us for this election year will be very clear. We will have a pro-abortion, anti-life incumbent president and a pro-life challenger. Unlike many countries, we will have a democratic process which allows for a noisy but non-violent election and, if the voters so decide, a peaceable transition of power.

As John Adams remarked, “How few of the human race have ever had an opportunity of choosing a system of government for themselves and their children? How few have ever had anything more of choice in government than in climate?”