It is Time to Call the Abortion Bluff
The Abortion debate has gone on for decades and has been the issue that has been used by the Republican Party to polarize the country and steal the moral values image from the Democratic Party. Yet on so many other moral issues the Democrats have always been the champions politically. Just look the last 30 years, it has mobilized the christian right to convince voters to toss out a President, Jimmy Carter who's not only life before and during his presidency clearly had a christian compass, but after as well to replace him with a divorced former Hollywood B actor. It has separated the traditional catholic voters of John F Kennedy from the Democratic Party and turned them to vote republican. Even today, the support among Catholics for Obama has dropped by 50% since inauguration. Not because he has changed a single law or policy on abortion,as he hasn't, but because from the pulpits of Catholic Churches all over the country it is being preached that he will.
My observation that there are several different groups of Americans holding different positions on Abortion.
Passionate Moralists.
These are those that believe that abortion is murder period. That it should not be legal in any way shape or form. When I use the word "bluff." I am not referring to this group. I respect their opinion if not always the tactics that are used by some. This group is in the minority in this debate.
Government Intrusionists
This is the group of Americans that I believe are in the majority on this issue. They believe that abortion is in fact very much a moral and ethical issue and wrong. However they do not believe that it is the Government's right to enforce morality upon women over their right to control what happens with their own bodies. This is the positon I take and obviously respect this group as well.
Mythical Immoral Abortionists
This is the group that many claim exist that is either very small or doesn't exist at all. Yet almost every democrat running for office is accused of being in this group. This group if it existed would be those that see no moral or ethical issue with abortion and see it as a medical procedure that should and could happen on demand without any concern whatsoever. I have never met a single person that believes this, thus I have doubts this group exists.
Political opportunists
This is the group I have no respect for. They are the ones that may believe one way or another as far as whether abortion should be legal or not, but in reality do not want the laws to change as they use this debate simply as a tool for political gain. This is the group for which the bluff should be called and must be now.
The first two Groups seemingly on opposite sides of the Abortion debate have one thing in common. The vast majority of them have an issue with late term abortion. Without trying to pin point the exact moment of when human life begins, it is still clear to most that at 6 months of gestation there is a viable or close to viable human life in existence. So if most agree that late term abortions should be severely limited if not outlawed, why haven't they? It is the Political Opportunists that have prevented it.
During the Clinton administration we came close to resolving the argument yet, Clinton was put in a position to have to veto the bill by the Republican Congress. The Law they passed did not allow any exceptions for the health of the mother. Why? Because it gave them the issue to use in the 2000 election. It worked.
Even in this last election the issue was used to accuse Obama of being for letting viable born alive infants die, to all kinds of abortion related atrocities. All of which of course were untrue. It is a powerful tool for the Political Opportunists and without it, the "moral values" tag would easily soon move back to the Democratic Party over issues like poverty, health care, war and the death penalty.
On the left there are also political opportunists that want to fight this debate using the "if you give in on one thing you will lose all your rights to control your own bodies" line. This is as small minded an argument as the belief that if we take away automatic weapons soon they will be coming for your hunting rifle.
Now is the time to take this issue out of the hands of the opportunists. We have control of the Congress and the Presidency. We can pass legislation to severely restrict late term abortions to only those with clear medical reasons. This is the time that political opportunists could not oppose such a measure without their bluff being obvious to all. This would satisfy the vast majority of Americans on the abortion issue and eventually bring the majority of catholics back to the Democratic party. Will it satisfy the passionate moralists? Not totally but it will clearly reduce their power and influence in the political arena.
My observation that there are several different groups of Americans holding different positions on Abortion.
Passionate Moralists.
These are those that believe that abortion is murder period. That it should not be legal in any way shape or form. When I use the word "bluff." I am not referring to this group. I respect their opinion if not always the tactics that are used by some. This group is in the minority in this debate.
Government Intrusionists
This is the group of Americans that I believe are in the majority on this issue. They believe that abortion is in fact very much a moral and ethical issue and wrong. However they do not believe that it is the Government's right to enforce morality upon women over their right to control what happens with their own bodies. This is the positon I take and obviously respect this group as well.
Mythical Immoral Abortionists
This is the group that many claim exist that is either very small or doesn't exist at all. Yet almost every democrat running for office is accused of being in this group. This group if it existed would be those that see no moral or ethical issue with abortion and see it as a medical procedure that should and could happen on demand without any concern whatsoever. I have never met a single person that believes this, thus I have doubts this group exists.
Political opportunists
This is the group I have no respect for. They are the ones that may believe one way or another as far as whether abortion should be legal or not, but in reality do not want the laws to change as they use this debate simply as a tool for political gain. This is the group for which the bluff should be called and must be now.
The first two Groups seemingly on opposite sides of the Abortion debate have one thing in common. The vast majority of them have an issue with late term abortion. Without trying to pin point the exact moment of when human life begins, it is still clear to most that at 6 months of gestation there is a viable or close to viable human life in existence. So if most agree that late term abortions should be severely limited if not outlawed, why haven't they? It is the Political Opportunists that have prevented it.
During the Clinton administration we came close to resolving the argument yet, Clinton was put in a position to have to veto the bill by the Republican Congress. The Law they passed did not allow any exceptions for the health of the mother. Why? Because it gave them the issue to use in the 2000 election. It worked.
Even in this last election the issue was used to accuse Obama of being for letting viable born alive infants die, to all kinds of abortion related atrocities. All of which of course were untrue. It is a powerful tool for the Political Opportunists and without it, the "moral values" tag would easily soon move back to the Democratic Party over issues like poverty, health care, war and the death penalty.
On the left there are also political opportunists that want to fight this debate using the "if you give in on one thing you will lose all your rights to control your own bodies" line. This is as small minded an argument as the belief that if we take away automatic weapons soon they will be coming for your hunting rifle.
Now is the time to take this issue out of the hands of the opportunists. We have control of the Congress and the Presidency. We can pass legislation to severely restrict late term abortions to only those with clear medical reasons. This is the time that political opportunists could not oppose such a measure without their bluff being obvious to all. This would satisfy the vast majority of Americans on the abortion issue and eventually bring the majority of catholics back to the Democratic party. Will it satisfy the passionate moralists? Not totally but it will clearly reduce their power and influence in the political arena.
Labels: abortion, Barack Obama, Late term abortion
posted by Joe R at
2:48 PM
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