The Republicans have now offered up the most pro-life ticket running on the most pro-life platform in history.
To review: the Republican Party supports an amendment to the U.S. Constitution defining life as beginning at conception and thereby banning all abortions from that point on. It would not only ban all first trimester abortions, it would ban certain types of birth control like RU 486, and possibly the pill which may cause miscarriages of fertilized eggs. The platform does not make exceptions for rape, incest or life of the mother. The full platform committee even deleted a sentence offered up in a first draft declaring: “We invite all persons of good will, whether across the political aisle or within our party, to work together to reduce the incidence of abortion.” All in all, these views are fully alligned with the 15% of the American public that believes abortion should be illegal in all casees.
The Democrats ardently re-affirmed their support for Roe v. Wade and even dropped language about abortion being “safe, legal and rare.” That part of the platform puts them in synch with the 17% who want abortion legal in all cases.
But the Democrats added a sentence for the first time urging support for those who want help to carry a baby to term: “The Democratic Party also strongly supports a woman’s decision to have a child by ensuring access to and availability of programs for pre- and post-natal health care, parenting skills, income support, and caring adoption programs.” In several public statements, Obama has talked about reaching common ground to reduce the number of abortions. Notably, unlike previous Democratic nominees he did not use his convention speech to re-state his support for abortion rights but instead cited the issue as an example of how culture wars keep us from making progress in areas on which we all agree: “We may not agree on abortion but surely we can agree on reducing unwanted pregnancies in this country.”
I know abortion isn’t really a left-right issue but forgive me a bit of moral sloppiness here when I say: The Republicans started out with a position on the right, and walked a few yards farther right. The Democrats started with a position on the left and moved a few inches to the center.
With the selection of Sarah Palin, Democrats will face a new temptation and new choice.
Some Democratic tacticians will argue: now is the time to present the clearest possible choice on abortion. If the goal is attracting Hillary voters, the greatest weapon the Obama campaign has is his pro-choice views. Be unabashedly pro-choice to contrast with the strong pro-life views of the Republicans. Don’t muddy your message with talk of reducing the number of abortions through other means. Keep it simple: Democrats are pro-choice, Republicans anti-abortion.
If Democrats take this path, I believe, they’ll lose a historic electoral opportunity. The political middle is up for grabs. Despite his ardently pro-choice record, Obama is now in a better position to win the middle on abortion than the Republicans. This is not only because of his policy positions but his tone. His convention line about seeking common ground on unintended pregnancies attempted to tap into American fatigue with the culture wars.
By contrast, John McCain has fully embraced the culture wars and said forcefully that he will lead his army into battle.
Democrats have an opening on abortion, but it may not be the one they think. Obama can now be the reasonable centrist on abortion, the policy pragmatist and the culture war peacemaker.