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by Paul R. Hollrah
“Because we believe in the privacy and equality of women, we stand proudly for a woman’s right to choose (to have an abortion), consistent with Roe v. Wade, and regardless of her ability to pay.”
2004 National Democratic Party Platform
One of the great anomalies of American politics in recent decades has been the vast difference in attitude toward the abortion issue among Republicans and Democrats. Why have pro-life forces enjoyed so much success within the Republican Party while being totally ignored in the Democratic Party, where abortion-on-demand has been an article
of faith?
Curiously, millions of Roman Catholics and Protestant fundamentalists in the Democratic Party (all strongly pro-life) regularly walk into the voting booths and pull the lever for candidates who openly support abortion-on-demand. So are we to believe that abortion is an overriding concern among pro-life Republicans, but only a matter of passing interest to pro-life Democrats? How do Democrats who feel strongly about that issue hold their tongues – and their noses – and simply ignore the issue when they make their voting booth decisions?”
Clearly, Democrats and their friends in the mainstream media have had a grand time and have posted some major victories using abortion as a political weapons to defeat Republicans, driving away those who may be conservative on most issues, but
pro-choice or libertarian on the abortion issue.
Fortunately, all of that changed on November 2, 2004. The reelection of George W. Bush and the expansion of Republican majorities in both houses of Congress have finally brought the “chickens home to roost” for Democrats. The notion that voters in the red states were rendering a verdict on the “values quotient” of the two major parties has created a political earthquake within the Democratic Party, the first tremors of which are only now being felt.
As the New York Times reported in their February 16 edition, “… nothing has put the fractured soul of the Democratic Party on display more vividly than abortion. Party leaders, including Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton… and the new chairman, Howard Dean, have repeatedly signaled an effort to recalibrate the party’s thinking about new restrictions on abortion.” Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, is openly recruiting pro-life Democrats to run against pro-life Republican incumbents in 2006.
But will any of this do any good? Can the party avoid what promises to be an all-but-fatal blood-letting? Abortion is such an emotional issue that, once the issue is out in the open, there is literally no way that committed pro-life activists can coexist side-by-side in the same political party with liberal activists who openly support abortion – no matter how strongly they might agree on economic, environmental, and other social issues.
By attempting to demonstrate Republican-style values by softening their position on abortion rights, Democrats run the risk of alienating their most faithful and generous contributor base. For example, the Times tells us that in 2004, Emily’s List, a group that raises money for female candidates who support abortion rights, raised $34 million for their candidates, essentially all of them liberal Democrats. By contrast, the National Right to Life Committee, the largest donor group opposed to abortion rights, raised less than $2 million.
During the recent battle for the DNC chairmanship, the Emily’s List Web site carried an ominous warning for Democrats. It declared, “We fought like mad to beat back the Republicans. Little did we know that we would have as much to fear from some within the Democratic Party who seem to be using (abortion rights) as a scapegoat for our top-of-the-ticket losses.”
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) appears to be “whistling past the graveyard.” The New York Times quotes Reid as saying, “We have had a lot of pro-life Democrats, but the pro-choice folk haven’t reached out to them and haven’t protected them.”
Pro-choice Democrats reaching out to pro-life Democrats, providing political cover for them? Senator, those little white capsules they’re exchanging aren’t sugar pills. Can you spell c-y-a-n-i-d-e?
The Democratic Party is now facing the most fractious issue since the Civil War and their leader in the U.S. Senate wants everyone to believe it’s all just a passing difference of opinion. For Democrats, the abortion issue is about as welcome as the proverbial skunk at the Sunday school picnic, but it’s their turn in the barrel. Whatever happens, it will not be pretty or pleasant but it will be fun to watch.
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