How the Dems can win in '08: Step Two

It's time for the Dems to figure out how to deal with abortion.

The question to ask is a simple one: What do those in favor of keeping abortions legal and those who are against the practice have in common?

Seriously. They have more in common with each other than not.

The answer?

Both sides would like to see the abortion rate get as close to zero as possible. Rather than avoid the issue, Dems should be pledging to reduce the number of abortions while keeping in place the much-needed protections for women.

Dems should speak more about keeping abortion legal when the mother's life is endangered. Dems should emphasize that it is between a woman and God to decide if it morally wrong to terminate a pregnancy that is the result of rape or incest - not the government. And then there should be an immediate follow up question: What sort of prison term does the abortion opponent want to give a woman who chooses to have an abortion after being raped?

I would like someone to ask Palin that question.

And then maybe ask her why the State of Alaska had to pass a special law because Wasilla, when Sarah was mayor and had consented to policy, charged rape victims for the medical kit that is used to collect evidence. Wasilla was the ONLY place in Alaska that had such a practice and despite calls from the state to change this policy that made victims of victims refused to do so. Read the ADN article.

Maybe the Dems should talk about R v W being about privacy. The government has no business asking a woman why she is having an abortion.

The Dems should actively dissuade women from using abortion as birth control. They should appeal to parents and church groups to counsel young folks to abstain, but if people choose to have sex, as they have done since Adam and Eve, to do so responsibly.