NYT: Democrats Weigh De-emphasizing Abortion as an Issue - Reassessing touchstone election issues

New York Times ^ | December 24, 2004 | ADAM NAGOURNEY

[Reactionary]

Well. Perhaps the socialist liberals will call for the repeal of Roe V Wade.

No? You mean they're merely play acting?

[TigersEye]

...concerned that Republicans have hurt the Democratic Party by portraying it as an uncompromising champion of abortion.

Yeah, we really had to work hard to cast that light on you. I don't know how we managed to get you to run a Presidential candidate who voted to keep PBA legal.

[Davis]

The Dems are and will remain clueless. Read Here

[TigersEye]

Here's one angle on abortion the Dims can drop:

Abortion is not about saving women’s lives!

Total Abortions since 1973

44,670,812

------------------------------------------------------------

Why the drop after 1960? (in deaths of women from illegal abortions)

The reasons were new and better antibiotics, better surgery and the establishment of intensive care units in hospitals. This was in the face of a rising population. Between 1967 and 1970 sixteen states legalized abortion. In most it was limited, only for rape, incest and severe fetal handicap (life of mother was legal in all states). There were two big exceptions — California in 1967, and New York in 1970 allowed abortion on demand. Now look at the chart carefully.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Abortion Statistics - Decision to Have an Abortion (U.S.)

· 25.5% of women deciding to have an abortion want to postpone childbearing

· 21.3% of women cannot afford a baby

· 14.1% of women have a relationship issue or their partner does not want a child

· 12.2% of women are too young (their parents or others object to the pregnancy)

· 10.8% of women feel a child will disrupt their education or career

· 7.9% of women want no (more) children

· 3.3% of women have an abortion due to a risk to fetal health

2.8% of women have an abortion due to a risk to maternal health

----------------------------------------------------------------------

So how many women’s lives have been saved by abortion?

Only about 3% of abortions since 1972 were reported to be “due to a risk to maternal health.” A reasonable person would recognize that not all of those cases represent a lethal risk. But let’s say they did. That means that nearly 45 million fetuses were butchered to save the lives of about 1.3 million women. Or put another way; 35 babies are killed to save each woman.

Abortion was legal in all 50 states prior to Roe v. Wade in cases of danger to the life of the woman.

[Kuksool]

RAT pundits are perplexed as to why Flyover Country would vote against their economic interests. RATS assume Red States voters want universal health care, living wage, and increased salaries for teachers. They shake their heads when Red State voters consider gay marriage and abortion to be important issues. RATS continue to think their message isn't being heard. But it is and the Red Zones are buying.

[Raycpa]

I am wondering about these recent articles on abortion that the rats need to lighten up. I wonder if they know they lost the judge issue in the senate and are preparing their base for upcoming appointments.

Lets look at the environment. Bush is ready to reappoint 20 judges that were bottled up. He wouldn't be doing this if he thought he couldn't bypass the filibuster, which implies he has the votes for the nuclear/constitutional option. The rats probably know this. If they put up a big fight the Red state senators get Dasheled in 2006.

If this is the environment and the rats are not going to fight hard, they need to prepare their base. The recent group of editorialist's discussing this same issue seems as if they are preparing the base for what is coming.

[Kuksool]

If the RATS don't put up a fight over the judicial nominees, then their wealthly, pro-abort donors will dump them in 2006.

[N. Theknow]

Well, since the Dims can't dazzle anyone with their brilliance, the next step is to baffle them with BS.

The "pro-choice" "unviable tissue mass" newspeak has gotten a bit old so they need to dream up new labels.

BTW, isn't it interesting to see Howard the Dud referred to as "Dr. Dean?"

Gives an authoritative ring to his words.

Of course to the discerning FReeper the ring is more akin to Dr. Mengele suggesting that twins should be studied more closely.

[ghitma]

So lets see if I have this right. A 14 year old can have an abortion without the parents knowledge, and have it paid for by tax payer dollars. At 16, 18 and 21 she can have her taxpayer paid abortions. Yet, according to NAARAL, Planned Parenthood, and Feinstein, its the "right wing extremists" that paint the demo-rats the abortion-demand-group. If that is not abortion on demand I don't know what is.

[N. Theknow]

I've said it before; put lipstick on a pig, you've still got a pig!

I see you've met my ex.

[BackInBlack]

"Remember, they're changing their tune as a means of getting lost power back not in the pursuit of upholding principles"

Absolutely. It's the citizens, not the politicians, who force change.

[McGavin999]

The proof is going to be in the judicial committee. We'll see how serious they are.

To let you all know just how stupid the dems are, turning over Roe V Wade would not end abortion, it would just turn it back to the individual states. That means that the blue states would be abortion central and in the red states it would not be legal. If a person in one of those two different areas could not stand to live with the decision of their state, they could always move to a state that shared their belief.

[Raycpa]

We we married to the same woman ?

[N. Theknow]

We be husbands-in-law?

[Ghengis]

And Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, said Republicans had "been successful at painting the view of the pro-choice movement as abortion on demand - and nothing can be farther from the truth."

Yeah, right.

Only about 3% of abortions since 1972 were reported to be “due to a risk to maternal health.” A reasonable person would recognize that not all of those cases represent a lethal risk. But let’s say they did. That means that nearly 45 million fetuses were butchered to save the lives of about 1.3 million women. Or put another way; 35 babies are killed to save each woman.

There is nothing but circular rhetoric coming out of the left on this issue (well, actually all of their issues).

Without coming right out and saying it, their stance is abortion for convenience sake. That is the most calloused position a human being can take towards its most vulnerable kin. I am ashamed for us.

[CyberAnt]

I think this is hysterical. What are the dems going to do when the Roe v. Wade issue comes up ..??

And .. what are they going to do with the 20 nominees Bush is going to re-submit to the Senate ..?? They were all held back because of their anti-abortion views.

ROTFLOL!! They just continue to try to fool the American people and the people aren't buying it.

[pookie18]

Yeah, right...start with the Dems on the Senate Judiciary Committee & their pro-abortion litmus test ;-)

[TigersEye]

Without coming right out and saying it, their stance is abortion for convenience sake. That is the most calloused position a human being can take towards its most vulnerable kin.

It goes hand-in-glove with the position that freeing millions of Iraqis from Saddam's murder machine is a waste.

It's on a par with disarming women and the elderly in order to reduce "gun-crime."

It's not far removed from the thought that old trees and animals that never really made it in the ecosystem are more important than productive jobs for men and women.

Kind of a pattern here and it all falls under the progressive/liberal label.

[thoughtomator]

A Democrat reconsidering his stance on abortion is like a Christian reconsidering his stance on "Thou shalt not kill." It simply can't be done without becoming something else entirely.

[LibFreeOrDie]

2.8% of women have an abortion due to a risk to maternal health

This was confirmed several years ago in a Boston Globe interview with the NH abortionist Wayne Goldner. When asked what percentage of abortions were due to maternal health issues, he responded "Tiny."