Posted on 11/20/2013 9:58:20 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Last night, pro-lifers received some disappointing news when a ballot proposal that would have banned abortions after 20 weeks in Albuquerque was rejected by the voters by a 55–45 margin. There are relatively few clinics that perform late-term abortions nationally, but one of them is located in Albuquerque. Since 20-week abortion bans have polled well nationally, local pro-life activists saw this municipal ballot proposal as a creative way to circumvent the New Mexico state legislature, which historically has been unreceptive to pro-life laws.
Pro-lifers should not despair about Tuesday’s loss, for a couple reasons. First, there’s a substantial body of political-science research showing that money plays a big role in determining which side prevails in ballot-proposition campaigns. This advantage is magnified whenever the status quo position enjoys a substantial financial advantage. That was the certainly the case during this campaign: Some estimates had pro-lifers being outspent by a 4-1 margin.
Second, pro-lifers have had little success changing public policy through direct democracy — even for incremental pro-life laws which poll well. For instance, in the late 1990s, attempts to use the citizen initiative to enact partial-birth-abortion bans in Maine, Colorado, and Washington were all unsuccessful. Between 1978 and 1988, only two out of seven ballot questions to limit public funding for abortion met with success. Efforts to enact a parental-notice law in California in 2006 and 2008 both failed by narrow margins. That said, of late, pro-lifers have enjoyed a little more success: Efforts to enact parental-involvement laws succeeded in both Alaska in 2010 and Montana in 2012. But these are red states where pro-life position enjoys far greater public support than it does in Albuquerque.
Finally, history also shows us that conservatives sometimes need to place questions on the ballot multiple times before achieving victory. Howard Jarvis placed a number of property-tax limits on the California ballot before succeeding with Proposition 13 in 1978. Fiscal limits authored by Douglas Bruce failed in Colorado in both 1988 and 1990, but then he succeeded with the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) in 1992. A pro-life initiative to limit public funding for abortion in Arkansas failed in 1986, but a subsequent initiative succeeded in 1988. Indeed, the battle in Albuquerque has likely only just begun.
— Michael J. New is an assistant professor of political science at the University of Michigan – Dearborn and an associate scholar at the Charlotte Lozier Institute.
What can you do if 55% want babies killed.
New Mexico is primally Roman Catholic.Did the church leaders speak against the murder of children.
If you eliminate abortion and/or birth control are you willing to provide support for those babies born to parents who are poor, underage or otherwise incapable of providing for the child?
What a strange article. It tells us to not be discouraged because failure is the norm when it comes to anti-abortion measures.
> If you eliminate abortion and/or birth control are you
> willing to provide support for those babies born to parents
> who are poor, underage or otherwise incapable of providing
> for the child?
I have 11 kids, 8 of whom are adopted.
There are many people I know personally who would love to adopt, but the process is so long and costly, few can afford it.
You know, you’re right, we should just kill them so we don’t have to mess with them. I mean, if their own mothers don’t want them... What was I thinking all this time?
Besides, we weren’t the ones aborted. We made it. Why should we worry about future ripped up babies?
Frankly it surprised me that the measure made it this far in Albuquerque. That city, along with Santa Fe, are the reason democrats get elected in NM.
No, the Catholic church never speaks out against abortion.
What a dumbass post.
If TV is in any way accurate, I think 55% of Albuquerque is using meth...
bttt
Albuquerque is not a red stronghold. Look at politics there and you can see that the left has had a strong showing for a long time. When the dems moved from CA, they brought their politics with them. Anybody who thinks that inviting Californians to their state for a reprieve is going to solve things is deluded. Yes, they are running from the harsh realities of CA, but remember that THEY voted for them. They actually believe, along with Hillary Clinton and Obama, et al that socialism has just not had a fair chance and given the right place and conditions, it will prove itself. We should know better. Let’s let the dems sort it out in their own blue states, which are “blue” for a reason. Same thing is happening in TX. Conservatives had better take notice and quit thinking that these are freedom-seeking new-comers. They will change YOUR city into the same thing they left within a decade, or less.
It was a rhetorical question.
1800s ozdragon: If you eliminate slavery are you willing to provide support for those slaves who are poor uneducated and otherwise incapable of living in freedom?
There are many organizations who care for unwed/underage mothers to get them back on their feet again. There are also many adoption agencies.
It is quite remarkable how high the failure rate for anti-abortion ballot initiatives is. Even in very conservative states (like South Dakota, for instance), voters seem to reliably reject any serious restrictions on abortion at the ballot box. Just about the only pro-life initiatives that have achieved any success are those dealing with parental involvement for minors.
From my observations of the last couple decades, I think it's clear that polling data isn't terribly accurate on this particular issue. While many Americans do continue to tell pollsters that they support restricting abortion, especially in later stages of pregnancy, not many of them actually vote for such restrictions when given the opportunity.
As a New Mexican in Exile from the People’s Republic of New Mexico, I can tell you that the local Diocese can play politics with the worst of them. If they were threaten by the Democratic Patrons, the order went out to shut up. This happened when Gary Johnson was Governor and was on the verge of passing school choice with the Bishop’s support... the Rats got to the Bishop and he threw the governor under the bus....
Well, as Stalin said, it doesn't matter who votes, what matters is who counts the votes.
Delayed NM list *PING*!
How’s your weather Dave? This is the freakiest storm I’ve seen in 20 years. Constant overcast and fog, very little wind and 17 degrees steady day and night. Only a couple inches of snow.
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