I worked in Republican politics in my 20s. I felt like an outlier in both my church and political party because I believed those of us on the right should stop wasting time fighting abortion.

Outside of work, I ministered to sex-trafficking victims on the streets of D.C. I fed the homeless. I taught Vacation Bible School to children in the worst part of town. I thought Republicans should shift our emphasis from abortion — in my mind, an unchangeable facet of our society — to those with desperate needs right in front of us.

I didn’t realize my blindness until years later, when I watched a series of undercover footage of Planned Parenthood released by The Center for Medical Progress. In those clips, I saw abortionists drinking wine and eating salads as they described their grotesque methods of killing babies. I cringed as they talked about the market price of tiny livers. I could hardly sleep knowing that real babies were murdered and dismembered minutes from my house.

In that moment, I stopped viewing abortion as merely one political issue among many; I understood it as an atrocity. Every year in America, 320,000 image-bearers of God are violently and painfully sucked out of the safety of their mothers’ wombs. All while the Democratic Party cheers it on.

The days of “safe and rare” are long gone. Abortion now stands as the Democrats’ backbone. They choose judges and filter their candidates through this lens.

Some pro-life Democrats (an increasingly rare breed) rationalize their votes by contending liberal policies raise women socially and economically, eventually making abortion less common. The premise of this argument is debatable; the conclusion is pure folly. As their 2016 platform makes clear, the Democratic Party seeks not only to protect abortion, but also to advance it.

Even so, many good-hearted Christians choose to set aside a candidate’s stance and record on abortion. In Indiana, people support Democrat Joe Donnelly for Senate simply because he says he’s pro-life. Never mind that Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, says he’s voted the way they wanted 68 percent of the time.

Meanwhile, I’ve met people in my home state of Texas who simply want to support an “authentic” person — regardless of political party — who will bring “civility” back to our national discourse. They check the box for the skateboard-riding, smooth-talking Beto O’Rourke in droves. But if Christians vote for pro-abortion candidates based on their empty words and supposed authenticity, they can feel certain of what to expect. As Donnelly’s record shows, once elected, these leaders can be counted on to help their party protect the slaughter of innocent babies.

We as a nation stand in a place my 25-year-old self would never have imagined: Roe vs. Wade could actually end in our lifetime. If that happens, abortion will be kicked to the states, with some making it illegal and others continuing to allow it.

This victory would enable babies in pro-life states — who would have faced certain death –the chance to live. These babies could one day have children of their own, and their family trees could go on growing for centuries. Abortion silently wipes out these future generations, all while we place a higher priority on a candidate’s tone and style. No other crisis facing our nation is so deadly.

These children’s faces and stories do not appear in the headlines. Our heartstrings don’t pull as we hear their voices or see their eyes. They never have the chance to speak or gaze up at us. It’s easy to overlook them. But every action we take on their behalf matters.

It matters that we give our time and money to pro-life organizations. It matters that we give our prayers for these babies. And on November 6, it matters that we don’t give the Democrats our vote.