For Democrats, abortion revisited

[NVMojo]

WASHINGTON – For Democrats who favor abortion rights - that is, most of the party - this week may carry the sensation of standing on the edge of a cliff: President Bush has just been sworn in for four more years, and it's possible he will get to nominate enough new Supreme Court justices to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark ruling that legalized abortion nationwide 32 years ago Saturday.
But embedded in this week of inauguration and stock-taking lies a central irony: At a time when abortion-rights forces are feeling an acute sense of peril, they are also being asked to reframe the way abortion is discussed - including being more receptive to Democrats who oppose abortion.

"I have long believed that we ought to make a home for pro-life Democrats," Howard Dean, a leading candidate to become the next Democratic Party chairman, said on "Meet the Press" last month. While calling himself "strongly pro-choice," he urged respect for antiabortion Democrats whose policy positions, such as support for children's programs, are "often lacking on the Republican side.

"We can change our vocabulary," he concluded, "but I don't think we ought to change our principles."

more...

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0121/p03s01-uspo.html

[papau]

1. a central irony? - respect for other views is somehow not what being

a Dem is all about?

[Warpy]

2. This should say it all.

"We can change our vocabulary," he concluded, "but I don't think we ought to change our principles."

Antiaborition laws kill women. That's the bottom line.

[Larkspur]

3. Dean has the right attitude on this.. "Safe, Legal, but Rare"

Wasn't that what Bill Clinton said about abortion?

That's really the feminist viewpoint too. Making abortions rare due to sex education and offering of artificial birth control to prevent unwanted pregnancies is really the feminist view on abortion and reporductive rights.

And Dean's right that anti-abortion Democrats will support pre and post natal programs that are supported by pro-choice Dems; whereas, antiabortion Repukes also opposed pre and post natal programs that help children and families.

I believe that Howard Dean is the best person to get antiabortion and pro-choice Dems to be on the same side, the Dem side, without abandoning the base and the majority of Americans who support keeping abortion legal but want it to be rarely used.

[Robert Oak]

6. that's the difference

what abortion is really about is women's rights...

and we can see what's behind the "Christian" dogma, which
is to make a woman "LESS EQUAL" to a fetus.

That said, if anybody could bring to light the huge efforts by
these radicals to stop birth control, to stop any sort of
sex education to stop anything that could potentially
reduce dramatically anyone being forced into the position "to choose".

would be great..for it brings the true agenda, which is to make women 3rd class citizens, front and center.

[loyalsister]

8. That's exactly it

Any idiot can stand up and posture against abortion, but what does that really accomplish?
If you want to actually do something to reduce abortion, you make that a goal and enact policies to work towards it. Education and funding work. The Clinton years proved it when we saw a significant decrease in the number of abortions.
The way to appeal to the prolife democrats is to get them to join us with a common goal- reducing the number of abortions.
That has always been the goal. They just don't seem to realize it because "safe, legal, RARE" got lost as we have just been defending ourselves.
It's time to go on the offensive and talk about this in realistic terms that people can truly relate to.
Teen pregnancy....
Not wanting to pay for young women's (who lost opportunities) children's health benefits, etc. I hate using those talking points, but when you can turn them around on the RW they can be effective.

[Voltaire99]

4. Good lord, Dean. Could you be any more obsequious?

By pandering Dean is beginning to show his old corporatist milquetoast colors again. It didn't take him long. Apparently, swallowing his short-lived passions in order to flak for the dreadful Kerry took the last fire out of the poor doc.

Sigh. I don't think this tragically handicapped party is capable of getting it any more. Maybe, but unlikely. I've certainly given up all but the most remote hope for it. The disappointment of a neutered Democratic Party is nearly worse than having no choice at all. At least with no choice, one isn't asked to sell his soul for the chance to promote weaklings, hypocrites and charlatans.

Look, I know there are some very well-intentioned souls on this board who'd lop off their right hand if they thought it would make people vote for a Democrat. Gentle readers, keep your right hand. Your foes are not going to come to you simply because you speak an ersatz language of reconciliation ("room for pro-life") and yet promise the opposite (status quo pro-choice positions). Don't you understand yet? They really, really hate abortion. And we really, really want it to be legal. So stop pandering!

That's hypocrisy, and the other side sees through it, and they laugh it you for bending, bending, always bending to their beliefs. So just stop deluding yourselves. Discover some principles, grow a pair, and stand up for what you believe!

[PassingFair]

5. This quote is WOEFULLY out of context, but alas...

I am far too tired to look for a link to the interview.
Perhaps in the a.m.......

[jasop]

7. You cannot support capital punishment, the 10 commandments,

and abortion. So for those who are conflicted .. think really hard