When Liberals Could Oppose Abortion ["He absolutely believes in the sanctity of life..."]

From: The Pro-Life Infonet Reply-To: Steven Ertelt Subject: When Liberals Could Oppose Abortion Source: The American Prowler; May 24, 2002

Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, is a staunch left-liberal who has never given up on the 1960s vision of politics. He’s chairman of the House Progressive Caucus. His pet issue is the establishment of a federal "Department of Peace."

He’s a fiery speaker too. Earlier this year he gave a stem-winder called "A Prayer for America." In it, he lashed out at the White House for the war in Afghanistan and the USA Patriot Act. He said the Bush Administration had revoked the U.S. Constitution.

His righteous rhetoric was exactly the tonic liberals were looking for in the wake of 9/11. Many began calling him the new moral leader of the left. A few even spoke of a presidential campaign. But those dreams came crashing to earth recently thanks to Nation columnist Katha Pollitt. Kucinich cannot lead the left, she pointed out: He’s opposed to abortion.

It’s true. "He absolutely believes in the sanctity of life and that life begins at conception," his press secretary Kathie Scarrah nervously told me.

This stance must have come as a shock to many liberals. How could a serious progressive oppose abortion?

But Kucinich, whose political career began in 1969, is less a freak than a simple throwback. As amazing as it may seem today, there were once many liberals who opposed abortion.

In fact, the left’s current hard-line pro-abortion stance is a relatively recent phenomenon. As recently as two decades ago, it was still a fiercely-debated issue among liberals. The pro-choicers won, of course, and in the process redefined liberalism.

A sense of the debate liberals once had can be found in the September 1980 issue of the Progressive. Seven years after Roe vs. Wade, it could still run pro- and con- articles on the issue.

The keep-abortion-legal article by Deborah Baldwin made many of the by-now familiar feminist arguments. The pro-life article, however, declared, "The Left has betrayed the sanctity of life." Its author, Mary Meehan, argued that liberals cannot oppose war, the death penalty and support human rights without also opposing abortion. "We don’t ... have either the luxury or the right to choose some types of killing and say they are all right, while others are not," she wrote.

"The debate over current public policy toward abortion is one that divides the Left, just as it divides others. To pretend otherwise—or to maintain that there is no room for differences on this within the Left— is to divide us further and to weaken us in what must be our common resolve to build a world in which freedom of choice and the right to life can coexist."

The November 1980 issue reported that those articles brought an "almost unprecedented" outpouring of mail from readers. Several enthusiastically applauded Meehan.

One wrote, "I have found it quite hard to be active in the women’s movement lately because of the single-minded obsession of some activist members with abortion."

What happened to shift the left to a firm pro-abortion stance? Ronald Reagan’s victory in 1980 was one obvious factor. A staunch opponent of abortion, he forced many to choose sides.

Another factor may have been the failure to pass the Equal Rights Amendment. Feminists, Baldwin complained in her article, were devoting all of their energy to that and little to abortion. After ERA died, feminists made abortion their central issue.

They succeeded in bringing the rest of left in line. Others had to get out of town. One-time abortion foes such as Jesse Jackson and Al Gore switched sides. Meehan now contributes to Human Life Review.

Today there remain some prominent liberals who are opposed to abortion, but you can count them on the fingers of one hand: In addition to Kucinich, there’s former Democratic House Whip David Bonior, columnists Mark Shields and Nat Hentoff. They oppose abortion on ethical grounds. Yet they aren’t very vocal about it. Presumably, they want to avoid fights with their fellow left-wingers.

In a recent column, Hentoff revealed how his stance almost cost him a lifetime achievement award from the National Press Foundation.

Kucinich, for example, doesn’t mention abortion at all on his otherwise comprehensive House website. But his support is there where it counts. "In his two terms in Congress, he has quietly amassed an anti-choice voting record of Henry Hyde-like proportions," Pollitt wrote. Although her column is called "Subject to Debate," she made it clear there is no room on the left to debate this topic.

Pundits tend to view the right’s pro-life politics as an albatross weighing it down. If it would only give up its obsession with the fetus, they say, the right could attract more moderate voters. Rarely do those pundits ask the inverse: Does the left’s strident support of abortion turn off people who would otherwise support liberal politics? How many activists and leaders like Kucinich has that stance cost them?

"That a solidly anti-choice politician could become a standard-bearer for progressivism, the subject of hagiographic profiles in The Nation and elsewhere, speaks volumes about the low priority of women’s rights to the self-described economic left, forever chasing the white male working-class vote," she wrote.

Maybe so. Or maybe it speaks to how little priority feminists give to any issue other than abortion.

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AL GORE
Gore used to be pro-life, until he decided it wasn't to his benefit politically.

I now have copies of Al Gore's voting record on abortion, his letters to constituents, and other documents. (everything quoted below and more) If anyone wants copies. Please stop back in the next few days to see a complete list of Gore's abortion flip-flop record.

* In 1980, Gore wrote a letter to NATIONAL RIGHT TO LIFE, supporting the Hyde Amendment.

* On June 26, 1984, Representative Al Gore cast an extremely pro-life vote. While debating the Civil Rights Act of 1984, Representative Siljander proposed the following amendment.

"For the purposes of this act, the term 'person' shall include unborn children from the moment of conception."
After debate, Mr. Siljander demanded a recorded vote. The amendment was defeated 219 to 186. Among the recorded votes for the amendment was that of Al Gore. This amendment was in direct opposition to Roe v Wade, not just one against federal funding for abortions. In addition, he denied even casting that vote on Meet the Press on Feb. 21, 1988, and a Gore advisor stated to U.S. News and World Report on March 7, 1998, that: "Since there's a record of that vote, we only have one choice. In effect, what we have to do is deny, deny, deny."

* In Iowa and New Hampshire, questions at Gore's open meetings focused on health care and education. In Los Angeles, they ran the gamut from welfare reform to the environment, as well as a number of questions about Gore's commitment to individual rights, such as gay rights, rights of the disabled and civil rights. Abortion continued to be an issue for Gore, who was asked by reporters in Venice about comments he made during his 1976 congressional race suggesting that a woman's "freedom to live her own life" does not always outweigh the rights of a fetus.
Source: "Democrats Take Race to West Coast In Costly California, Key Goal Is 'Free Media'"
By William Booth and Lois Romano Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, February 4, 2000; Page A06 (this is one document I do not have a copy of)

* During his tenure in the U.S. House (1977 to 1984) Gore voted pro-life 27 times and had a 84% pro-life voting record.

* In letters to a constituents, he wrote: "It is my deep personal conviction that abortion is wrong. I hope that some day we will see the current outrageously large number of abortions drop sharply." (Letters from Sept. 15, 1983, August 22, 1984, )

* In a May 26, 1987 letter to a constituent he wrote: "During my 11 years in congress, I have consistently opposed federal funding for abortions. In my opinion, it is wrong to spend federal funds for what is arguably taking of a human life. Let me assure you that I share your belief that innocent human life must be protected, and I am committed to furthering this goal."

Rep. Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.)
"Life is the division of human cells, a process that begins with conception.... The [Supreme Court's abortion] ruling was unjust, and it is incumbent on the Congress to correct the injustice." Mr. Gephardt wrote in 1984, "I have always been supportive of pro-life legislation. I intend to remain steadfast on this issue.... I believe that the life of the unborn should be protected at all costs."

In 1987, however, Mr. Gephardt decided to run for president, and he soon announced that he had discontinued his support for pro-life legislation. Specifically, he informed the National Right to Life Committee, "I do not support any Constitutional Amendment pertaining to the legality of abortion."

Sen. Edward Kennedy, [D-Mass.], in a letter to a constituent, August 3, 1971
"While the deep concern of a woman bearing an unwanted child merits consideration and sympathy, it is my personal feeling that the legalization of abortion on demand is not in accordance with the value which our civilization places on human life. Wanted or unwanted, I believe that human life, even at its earliest stages, has certain rights which must be recognized -- the right to be born, the right to love, the right to grown old.

"I share the confidence of those who feel that America is working to care for its unwanted as well as wanted children, protecting particularly those who cannot protect themselves. I also share the opinions of those who do not accept abortion as a response to our society's problems -- an inadequate welfare system, unsatisfactory job training programs, and insufficient financial support for all its citizens.

"When history looks back to this era it should recognize this generation as one which cared about human beings enough to halt the practice of war, to provide a decent living for every family and to fulfill its responsibility to its children from the very moment of conception."

Bill Clinton, in a letter to Arkansas Right to Life, September 26, 1986
"I am opposed to abortion and to government funding of abortions. We should not spend state funds on abortions because so many people believe abortion is wrong."

Reverend Jesse Jackson - he endorsed the Hyde Amendment in an open letter to Congress that opposed federal funds used for "killing infants." Mr. Jackson wrote the following statements in a 1977 National Right to Life News article
"There are those who argue that the right to privacy is of [a] higher order than the right to life ... that was the premise of slavery. You could not protest the existence or treatment of slaves on the plantation because that was private and therefore outside your right to be concerned.

"What happens to the mind of a person, and the moral fabric of a nation, that accepts the aborting of the life of a baby without a pang of conscience? What kind of a person and what kind of a society will we have 20 years hence if life can be taken so casually? It is that question, the question of our attitude, our value system, and our mind-set with regard to the nature and worth of life itself that is the central question confronting mankind. Failure to answer that question affirmatively may leave us with a hell right here on earth."

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