One of the most liberal newspapers in the country, the New York Times, has run an op-ed piece that argues that by standing immovably by the "pro-choice" position, the Democratic Party and presidential candidates are alienating the fundamental voter demographic that might ensure the party victory in 2008.
In a piece entitled "Why Pro-Choice is a Bad Choice for Democrats," Melinda Henneberger (author of "If They Only Listened to Us") points out that the common belief of the liberal Democrat — that abortion is a settled issue and is only opposed by an "extreme" minority — is false.
"Over 18 months, I traveled to 20 states listening to women of all ages, races, tax brackets and points of view speak at length on the issues they care about heading into '08," writes Henneberger. "They convinced me that the conventional wisdom was wrong about the last presidential contest, that Democrats did not lose support among women because ‘security moms' saw President Bush as the better protector against terrorism. What first-time defectors mentioned most often was abortion."
Many die-hard women Democratic Party members, says Henneberger, have been alienated by the party by a void of candidates that are on-side with what they perceive to be an issue of life and death, a void that is filled by Republican candidates, such as Fred Thompson.
Instead the Democratic Party must begin to win back pro-life voters, says Henneberger, in the first place by giving such voters "respect." "As it turns out," she writes, "you cannot call people extremists and expect them to vote for you. But real respect would require an understanding that what supporters of abortion rights genuinely see as a hard-earned freedom, opponents genuinely see as a self-inflicted wound and — though I can feel some of you tensing as you read this — a human rights issue comparable to slavery."
While Henneberger stops short of saying that perhaps Democrats might consider actually siding with pro-life advocates on the issue, she does point out that the liberal devotion to the "right" to abortion on demand in all circumstances is damaging to the public view of Democrats.
"Today…the leading Democratic presidential contenders are condemning the Supreme Court's recent decision to uphold a ban on the procedure known as partial-birth abortion." And yes, she says, "An overwhelming majority of Americans, polls show, support a ban."
She concludes, "What are we to make of all this? Surely at a minimum that our enduring reluctance to acknowledge the complexity of the abortion issue has only prolonged and hardened the debate." Instead, says Henneberger, Democrats should recognize, at the very least, that the abortion debate is complex, and perhaps in doing so Democratic candidates will win back some of the money and supporters that have defected to the Republican Party.
"This issue has been very, very good to the Republican Party — and there is plenty more where that came from."
Read the New York Times op-ed article.
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