Posted on 11/14/2004 6:37:38 AM PST by GaryL
Abortion didn't get much airtime in the 2004 presidential campaign, but after the votes were counted it didn't take long for the issue to bubble to the surface. The day after the election, Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) called down the wrath of the freshly emboldened right wing of his party, and endangered his ascension to the chairmanship of the Judiciary Committee, by letting slip that he thought it "unlikely" that nominees to the federal judiciary "who would change the right of a woman to choose" would be approved by the Senate.
Meanwhile, over in the executive branch, President Bush nominated White House counsel Alberto R. Gonzales to succeed John Ashcroft as attorney general -- in part, Republican insiders told reporters, as a stepping stone to a future Supreme Court appointment, a way to "burnish [Gonzales'] credentials with conservatives" who were leery of his insufficiently hard line on affirmative action and, in particular, abortion.
All of this has played out against the backdrop
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
There would be nothing to stop it. There is no way to legislate morality. Before Roe, people used to go to Mexico. The thing is, it would make people stop and think a little harder, it would stop people from using abortion as a birth control devise. It would shift the national debate to a local level where it could be better addressed.
If Roe is overturned, nothing will be different, except the dims will probably win a lot more elections.
why?
Absolutely nothing will change and nut jobs on both sides of the issue will still complain about it.
The "woman and her doctor" phrasing and the "generally legal" phrasing are rigged.
When people are asked, "should the abortion decision be between a woman and her doctor?" they think it's a reference to a medically necessary abortion. So big majorities always approve of leaving abortion to a "woman and her doctor". The question makes it sound like kindly old Dr. Williams has had to sadly inform Mrs. Smith that only an abortion will save her life, or something like that. In reality, of course, the "doctor" is usually an abortionist who kills babies for money and has a financial stake in the woman's "choice". But that's not how the poll question sounds to most people.
Likewise, when people say abortion should be "generally legal", or "legal in most circumstances", they aren't supporting Roe. They're saying, "Let's see, I think abortion should be legal for cases involving the life of the mother, rape, incest, and fetal malformation, but illegal for convenience." So that's legal in four circumstances, illegal in one, so they say abortion should be generally legal in most circumstances. But the reality is that 99% of abortions are for convenience.
Liberal pollsters have found ways to produce an imaginary "pro-choice majority", but no such majority actually exists. If you ask people whether abortion should be always legal, always illegal, or legal ONLY in very hard cases (life of mother, rape, etc.) the combined totals for banning all abortions or only allowing the very hard cases is always a majority.
I don't believe a majority favor gay civil unions. The referendum in Ohio, which passed by a margin greater than Bush's win in Ohio over Kerry, banned civil unions as well as gay marriage. It even banned private companies in Ohio from giving benefits to gay couples.
A lot of people tell pollsters they favor civil unions, usually because the pollster presents it to them as a "compromise" between the two alleged "extremes" (as if supporting the traditional definition of marriage as it has existed for 5000 years is "extreme"), but when people truly think about it and get into the privacy of the polling place they vote no on both gay marriage and gay civil unions.
I'm old enough to remember 1975, when polls showed that voters in New York and New Jersey would overwhelmingly support adding the Equal Rights Amendment to their state constitutions. The voters ended up rejecting them in both states by wide margins.
If Roe is repealed, I think we'd quickly see abortion prohibited or sharply restricted everywhere but the northeast. California and other West Coast states all have initiatives, which would permit the moderate pro-life majority (and it is a moderate pro-life majority, everywhere) quickly to put restrictions on the books.
New York, New Jersey, and New Englad don't have the initiative system, which would enable Democratic legislative majorities to bottle up restrictions indefinitely ... and I don't see abortion as an issue which would let Republicans get a majority in the New York Assembly or the Massachusetts State House.
The women of MA will be free to abort all the children they want to abort. I'm sure the legislature will even enact partial birth abortion laws. The blue states will continue to shrink in population relative to red states, so politcal power will ebb in the blue states.
Having worked with post-abortion women in group - many who had an abortion as teens - they said that if they had known the inner turmoil that they have experienced after having an abortion - they could never again support abortion rights.
Other older women in group told about having gone into self-destructive lifestyles after having an abortion - drugs, promiscuity, alcohol, overweight, binge eating, etc. They, too, said they do not support abortion anymore because they know from first hand the damaging results on their phyche.
Many of these women thought that if they got an abortion like their boyfriend, husband, or even parents pressed them to have - that they would have peace in their lives. But instead of drawing closer to that person(s) - the women found the people (person) either abandoned them anyway - or they were given a cold shoulder after the abortion. And then - they are the ones left to struggle with the turmoil in their soul.
The studies on women (and men) who have gone through an abortion decision show that it usually takes around 10 years for those inner struggles to be revealed - even to themselves. Once the person can no longer stand themselves for what happened - they reach out for abortion recovery groups. Many Crisis Pregnancy Centers know where those groups meet regularly and you can direct anyone seeking abortion recovery help to call them locally.
There is a lot more to this issue than meets the eye. It is not a solution for a short term problem because it will effect a person for a long time!
If so, how would you word unambiguous and narrowly-defined poll questions that would reveal a truer sense of what the people think?
In either case, there has to be unanimity in the legal definition of the word, 'abortion' before it could be applied in laws.
But then, that is the real crux of the matter, isn't it? I don't think there will be agreement on when life starts, and I don't think any law that stipulates when life starts will find easy passage.
Apart from that, do you think more lives will be saved overall if Roe is reversed and states take control again? Thanks.
I know you are being serious but I have to say it. We Wade!
It's funny you mention this. I have friend whose daughter got drunk and had sex the first week she was away at college. She had an abortion. She continued to have sex with the guy and subsequently had a daughter which they are raising.
She has dropped out of school 3 times now. They were essentially kicked out his parents home for being disruptive. They break up often and she admits that she strikes him in anger and he pushes her back. They argue a lot. She only recently admitting to having the abortion.
She is in counseling now but I fear that a huge amount of damage has been done. She was accepted into the Catholic Church but rejects most the doctrine, particularly the behavioral stuff.
Far being a efficient "solution", her experience is continuing to wreck her life.
Me Bad: no paragraphs and did not include the COST of the Abortion.
Apologies for the eye strain.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.