Even before the damaging revelations for a prominent political figure in Georgia became public, the concept of being “pro-life” in politics in America was on life-support. Now for American politics, and a wide swath of voters, what it means to be “pro-life” has functionally ceased to exist.

During the Newt Gingrich era “Contract with America,” I asked a Republican congressional candidate from Wisconsin what he would do if he only had one law that he could get through the House of Representatives. “I’d pass a ‘Human Life Amendment’ which would protect life from cradle to grave,” he told me. “So, you oppose the death penalty and want to demobilize our military?” I asked him. He became very uncomfortable, trying to explain how capital punishment and combat didn’t count in his concept of Human Life.

John A. Tures is a professor of political science at LaGrange College in Georgia. He can be reached at jtures@lagrange.edu. His Twitter account is @JohnTures2.