The GOP's Abortion Anxiety

[sasha031]

March 20, 2006 issue - When South Dakota approved a law sharply restricting abortion last week, many pro-life Republicans around the country sounded a loud hallelujah. But at least one very senior Republican did not seem at all eager to join in the chorus. As Ken Mehlman, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, flew to Memphis to attend the first gathering of potential GOP presidential candidates for 2008, a NEWSWEEK reporter asked him if he had anything to say about the South Dakota law. "No," he said. Did he plan to make a statement on that topic at the Republican gathering in Memphis? "No" was the answer. Would he ever be willing to comment on the topic, other than to say that it's up to the states to make their own choices on abortion? Again, the answer was "no." The look on his face was more expressive. It appeared to ask, "Are you kidding?"

Why such reticence to embrace glad tidings? After all, the abortion issue has been good to the Republican Party. It has energized Roman Catholic and evangelical grass-roots activists and allowed the GOP to paint pro-choice Democrats as cultural extremists, out of step with Main Street and the heartland. But a recent flurry of activity on abortion is making Republican politicians nervous. With states moving to restrict abortion and the Supreme Court drawing closer to the day when it might actually reverse Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision guaranteeing a woman's right to an abortion, GOP leaders see big political risks.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11786788/site/newsweek/

[shoelace414]

1. Abortion is a "political plus" only for Republicans now

when states start banning it, then it will be a "political plus" for Democrats as well.

[blue neen]

2. The abortion ban in South Dakota has awakened the country.

I believe the Republicans sense that the legislature in South Dakota has pushed too far. They are the ones out of touch with mainstream America.

[Coastie for Truth]

3. It has already come back to bite them

as has their battle against stem cell research.

This morning Mrs. Coastie and I were talking about a possible blowback from the electioneering by faith based organizations - the end to the tax examption for religious orgaizations - or even the end of the 501(c)(3) status and deduction generally.