Christopher Hale, a 31-year-old Tennessee Democrat who has launched a second campaign for Congress after failing to secure his party’s nomination in 2018, looks different from a lot of the politicians on his side of the aisle.
He’s pro-life.
In an interview with Faithwire, Hale, who served as a Catholic faith adviser to then-President Barack Obama during his 2012 re-election campaign, said he extends his pro-life views further than just being opposed to abortion.
“Life might begin at conception,” he said, “but it sure as heck doesn’t end there. So to me, the idea that you can call yourself ‘pro-life’ and not support health care, call yourself ‘pro-life’ and not support universal access to living wages and housing and a pathway to a better future through education — to me, that’s morally reprehensible, and I would say anti-biblical and anti-Christian.”
It should, of course, be noted there are many anti-abortion groups providing aid well past the point of giving birth.
To make the case for his candidacy, Hale pointed out the fact that his Republican opponent, Rep. Scott DesJarlais, who is politically opposed to abortion, has in the past encouraged two women — his ex-wife as well as a mistress — to obtain abortions. DesJarlais, a physician, has also admitted to supporting his ex-wife’s decision to have two abortions before their marriage in 1995. He has expressed regret, calling supportive those abortions a “poor choice.”
DesJarlais and the Republican Party, however, are offering a political home to millions of pro-life, anti-abortion voters across the country.
Hale said it’s important for progressives “to acknowledge that pro-life Democrats are a huge part of the legacy of the Democratic movement.”
With his pro-life views — and his perspective on other issues — in mind, Hale said it’s critical for Christians to keep politics in its rightful place, as a “a narrow means to make life better for communities.” Giving politics an outsized role, allowing it to become “salvific,” the Democrat added, “is demonic.”
“What you’ll find in me is a different kind of Democrat — a Democrat who is not burdened by a party or ideology, but has a single fixture of making life better for American families, inspired first and foremost by my faith in the Son of God who came to save us.”
Hale is running for Tennessee’s 4th District seat in the U.S. Congress.