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Abortion's 'So-What' Factor (Do We Barf George Will?)
Washington Post ^ | 28 October 2007 | George Will

Posted on 10/28/2007 7:17:48 AM PDT by shrinkermd

Almost 35 years have passed since the Supreme Court decided to end America's argument about abortion. Because of the court's supposedly therapeutic intervention in the nation's supposedly inadequate democratic debate about that subject, the issue still generates an irritable irrationality that was largely absent before 1973.

...Nevertheless, it is said that if the Republican Party wants to be competitive in California in presidential politics, it must nominate a pro-choice candidate, of which there is only one -- Rudy Giuliani. This is almost certainly true. It certainly is irrational because pro-choice Californians have next to nothing to fear -- just as pro-life Californians have next to nothing to hope for -- from a right-to-life president. The practical consequences of such a president concerning abortion would not differ significantly from Giuliani's consequences. Here is why.

...Again, so what? Many, perhaps most, Americans, foggy about the workings of their government, think that overturning Roe would make abortion, one of the nation's most common surgical procedures, illegal everywhere. All it actually would do is restore abortion as a practice subject to state regulation. But because Californians are content with current abortion law, their legislature probably would adopt it in state law.

...It is not irrational for voters to care deeply about a candidate's stance regarding abortion because that stance is accurately considered an important signifier of the candidate's sensibilities and sympathies, and of his or her notion of sound constitutional reasoning. But regarding abortion itself, what a candidate thinks about abortion rights is not especially important.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: abortion; election; georgewill; giuliani; issue; non; politics; prolife; rudy
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To: juliej

Georgie misses the entire point of the pro-life argument: Any life we can save counts. New York is another state where abortion will never be outlawed in our lifetime (unfortunately!), but does that mean pro-life residents of NY and CA shouldn’t care about the babies that will be saved in Texas, Louisiana or Utah?


41 posted on 10/30/2007 6:43:31 AM PDT by Tabi Katz
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To: Tabi Katz

George is shilling for Giuliani.


42 posted on 10/30/2007 6:47:25 AM PDT by juliej (Vote GOP!)
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To: indylindy

Actually, George Will makes exactly that point in the article. Did you read it?


43 posted on 10/30/2007 7:01:45 AM PDT by swain_forkbeard (Rationality may not be sufficient, but it is necessary.)
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To: swain_forkbeard

Yes.


44 posted on 10/30/2007 8:24:58 AM PDT by dforest (Duncan Hunter is the best hope we have on both fronts.)
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