First, let's be fair and admit up front that defending human life is about much more than reducing the abortion rate (although it has been steadily decreasing since 1990) or reversing Roe v. Wade (which--funny thing--just doesn't seem to happen no matter how packed with Republican appointees the Supreme Court gets). I myself believe that if abortion is ever criminalized, then the men who impregnate the women who get the abortions should go to jail, too--assuming, of course, that the penalty is jail and not death. My reasoning goes like this: if he co-created the life, then he should co-protect it. But I digress. The fact is, over one million abortions occur annually in the US, which still keeps us far from Bill Clinton's middle-ground ideal of making abortions safe but rare.

But what else causes horrible and/or needless deaths among us? The World Health Organization estimates that global warming contributes to 150,000 deaths a year, and that number could double by 2030. The US ranks 28th in the world in infant mortality, according to a report issued in 2005. That puts our ability to save a newborn from death on a par with that of Croatia and Lithuania and slightly behind that of Cuba. This should be worrisome because the infant mortality rate is considered a reliable measure of the overall state of a nation's health care system.

If we are losing 28,000 newborn babies every year, then we are losing many, many other people of other ages simply because they can't get the life-saving health care they need. Aside from the 4000+ US war dead since our invasion of Iraq in 2003, the number of Iraqis who have died from violent causes has totaled more than 87,000. Never mind the loss in quality of life for those 2 million who have fled the country. (Two million exiles from Kansas, by the way, would nearly empty the entire state. And how do you suppose Nebraska would feel if suddenly inundated with two million Kansans?)

Where someone stood on the Iraq war provides a good insight into a person's overall readiness to put human lives at risk. Those who valued human life more highly were more likely to question the war's rationale, goals, tactics, and strategies. And indeed if every human life is sacred because it is created by God and not because of anything a person does to earn or deserve life, why does our "Christian" nation think it's fine and dandy to kill 65 or so prisoners a year, while keeping about 3,500 others in limbo on Death Row? Do we secretly have the same taste for terror, violence, and revenge that we accuse our enemies of having?

So far I have suggested four different threats to human life in addition to the one posed by abortion on demand. Now let's take all five threats one by one and see how the two major Presidential candidates line up. I have retrieved my information from the website of the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, www.pewforum.org, but I encourage you to visit this site for yourself.

ABORTION. McCain opposes abortion except in cases of rape, incest, and danger to the mother. He wants Roe v. Wade overturned, and he sees abstinence-based sex education as the best way to reduce unwanted pregnancies. Obama thinks women should make abortion decisions in dialogue with their families, clergy, and doctors. He favors reducing abortions through sex education that includes information on both abstinence and contraception. He also believes adoption needs to be more strongly encouraged.

GLOBAL WARMING. McCain mostly wants market-based environmental protection programs. Obama favors government investment in new energy technologies and stricter regulations for polluters.

HEALTH CARE. McCain advocates giving people tax credits to buy their own health insurance, plus other market-friendly health care reforms. Obama wants universal health care by 2012. He plans to allow everyone access to the government health care plan that presently is available only to federal government employees. He will fund it by letting the Bush tax cuts run out.

IRAQ WAR. McCain considers Iraq a just war, voted for it, supported the surge, and supports keeping US troops in Iraq indefinitely. From the beginning Obama considered the Iraq war "dumb" and "rash" and opposed it. Through a gradual draw-down of troops, he wants all combat brigades out of Iraq within 16 months.

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT. McCain favors the death penality for all federal crimes, but would exclude minors. Obama supports the death penalty in the case of heinous crimes, but seeks reform of capital punishment laws due to the many innocents who have been executed over the years.

As you can see, both candidates have their strengths and weaknesses in these five selected areas, and there are other topics I haven't even included, such as stem cell research and poverty. Go to www.pewforum.org to learn more.

In the meantime, when thinking about the areas in which the candidates seem similar, ask yourself: whose plans for change are more likely to succeed? It means little for a candidate to support a worthy goal if his strategy for reaching in it won't get us there.

Sources of Statistics Used in This Article:

• www.abortionfacts.com/statistics/us_stats_abortion.asp
• environment.about.com/od/globalwarmingandhealth/a/gw_deaths.htm
• abcnews.go.com/Health/GlobalHealth/story?id=1266515
• mchb.hrsa.gov/mchirc/chusa_04/pages/0406im.htm
• unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/iraq?page=intro
• iraqbodycount.org
• america.gov/st/washfile-english/2005/March/200503011427401CJsamohT0.170437.html