January 20, 2008
THANKS, GIPPER:
The Growing Aversion to Abortion (Steve Chapman, 1/20/08, Real Clear Politics)
In 2003, Gallup found, one of every three kids from age 13 to 17 said abortion should be illegal in all circumstances. More revealing yet is that 72 percent said abortion is "morally wrong."By now, pro-life groups know that outlawing most abortions is not a plausible aspiration. So they have adopted a two-pronged strategy. The first is to regulate it more closely -- with parental notification laws, informed consent requirements and a ban on partial-birth abortion. The second is to educate Americans with an eye toward changing "hearts and minds." In both, they have had considerable success.
Even those who insist Americans are solidly in favor of legal abortion implicitly acknowledge the widespread distaste. That's why the Democratic Party's 2004 platform omitted any mention of the issue, and why politicians who support abortion rights cloak them in euphemisms like "the right to choose."
But some abortion rights supporters admit reservations. It was a landmark moment in 1995 when the pro-choice author Naomi Wolf, writing in The New Republic magazine, declared that "the death of a fetus is a real death." She went on: "By refusing to look at abortion within a moral framework, we lose the millions of Americans who want to support abortion as a legal right but still need to condemn it as a moral iniquity."
The report on abortion rates from the Guttmacher Institute suggests that the evolution of attitudes has transformed behavior. Since 1990, the number of abortions has dropped from 1.61 million to 1.21 million. The abortion rate among women of childbearing age has declined by 29 percent.
Those changes could be the result of other factors, such as more use of contraception: If fewer women get pregnant, fewer will resort to abortion. But the shift is equally marked among women who do get pregnant. In 1990, 30.4 percent of pregnancies ended in abortion. Last year, the figure was 22.4 percent.
28 years ago, when Ronald Reagan was in John McCain's position, the best and the brightest were convinced that his stridently pro-life politics were disqualifying for the presidency. Posted by Orrin Judd at January 20, 2008 6:49 AM
But he assuaged the worried elites with the appointment of two liberal pro-choice justices, just the way McCain would.
Posted by: Palmcroft at January 20, 2008 9:07 AMPalmcroft
So true, and it's all about the Judges.
Naomi Wolfe.."By refusing to look at abortion within a moral framework, we lose the millions of Americans who want to support abortion as a legal right but still need to condemn it as a moral iniquity."
She's wrong. Once the moral issue issue is lost the laws will be changed to limit or remove the "legal right". Only Roe V Wade stands in the way. Her better strategy is to continue to scoff at the idea that a fetus is a person. She'll lose, but it'll take longer.
Posted by: h-man at January 20, 2008 10:49 AMActually, I thank folks like the Rev. Pat Mahoney and Brandi Swindell that are willing to take the culture of death head on, through education and social pressure. Let's not forget that, during the Gipper's time, Pro-Lifers were essentially accused of terrorism, and the actual bombings set things back.
On the legal front, while South Dakota's failed 2006 attempt at a total abortion ban may have been politically ill-advised, it does serve as a useful boundary. Keep the pressure going, I say.
Posted by: Brad S at January 20, 2008 11:11 AMDon't forget plain ol demographics - pro-lifers are having babies while pro-choicers are killing theirs. The numbers start to add up.
Posted by: Shelton at January 20, 2008 1:51 PMUltrasound. Just before Christmas, a friend of my wife's e-mailed us her 1st ultrasound scans. Who could have imagined that, even 15 years ago?
In India and China, they use ultrasound to cull out the females. Not here. In the US, they are cherished memories. Sort of like first contact.
Posted by: jim hamlen at January 20, 2008 6:22 PM