Abortion is a losing issue on a national level for Reps. It's trying to impose moral values on a majority that doesn't want it. It's seeking a political remedy for what is considered a religious issue. 50% of Catholics voted for Obama. Reps seem to be all over the board on the issue while trying to avoid the subject. I think we need a clear, this is what we stand for, message. There are over 1 million abortions in the US every year. We are not outlawing abortion we are moving forward with government sponsored abortion. There is no magic wand to stop abortion, why not use tactics that have a chance of success.
If you believe abortion is murder, that is not something you ever compromise on. A person who believes abortion is murder would be as likely to compromise on that position as you would be likely to compromise that shooting random strangers in the head is murder.
However...
Two thirds of Americans are opposed to abortion in the second trimester. Since about half of all Americans say they are pro-life, and half say they are pro-choice, the two thirds polling number means there is a giant overlap to be found between the pro-life and pro-choice positions.
Where there is a middle ground, there is a compromise to be found. A compromise doe s not automatically mean one has to compromise their principles. But just try getting that across to some of the more extreme people in either camp!
Hoo boy. I have tried.
Boy have I tried.
So we have to stop letting the extremists control the conversation. An energetic extremist has a way of getting even the most level headed person all heated up and then that person finds themselves moving to the opposite pole. Extremists literally cause the abortion issue to be a polarizing one.
The "rape and incest" question is one such example of a polarizing weapon used by both sides. Once the rape/incest gauntlet is thrown down, the 99 percent of abortions which have nothing to do with rape or incest are forgotten. And thus no one is talking about how to reduce that number.
I just recently had a very emotionally charged discussion with a fellow pro-lifer who is very close to me. When I suggested that we could eliminate half of all the million-plus abortions each year simply by getting more women to use birth control, his response was, "Which 500,000 babies do you want to die?"
This is the ridiculous kind of arguing we need to move away from.
Half of all abortions are the result of no birth control of any kind being used during the sex act which led to the unwanted pregnancy.
Clearly this is a middle ground we can work on.
.
