This campaign season has brought a new species: ads that advocate for fewer abortions but are implicitly pro-choice. Matthew25 did the first wave of such ads.
Now, Faith in Public Life has begun running an unusual radio ad in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Indiana, North Carolina, Virginia, Florida, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Missouri.
Pro-life activists will bristle at the notion that "we need to ask ourselves what it really means to be pro-life." Pro-choice activists will dislike the call to help young mothers "choose life." But all in all, the language may be closer to where many Americans are: wanting abortion legal but more rare.
The text of the ad:
With 1 in 5 pregnancies in America ending in abortion and the number of abortions unchanged from 32 years ago, it's time to stop the political posturing and get serious about protecting life.2,400 late-term abortions a year is tragic, but what often gets ignored is that 10 times more infants die each year in America largely because of inadequate healthcare.
We need to ask ourselves what it really means to be pro-life and help move the conversation beyond bumper sticker slogans.
Thankfully, some lawmakers are already working on real solutions that will drastically reduce abortions by expanding programs that encourage adoption, increasing pre- and post-natal healthcare, preventing unintended pregnancies, and helping young mothers choose life.
It's time for Democrats and Republicans to come together around solutions based on results, not rhetoric. Please learn more by visiting www.realabortionsolutions.org.
The ad was endorsed by an all-star cast of pro-life progressives and moderates, including: Rev. Sam Rodriguez of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, Rev. Rich Cizik of the National Association of Evangelicals, Jim Wallis of Sojourners, and Joel Hunter, senior pastor of the 12,00-member Northland Church in Florida.
http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_induced_abortion.html
Maternal and reproductive health is one of many areas where the US lags the rest of the developed world. Some improvements there would reduce the number of abortions and the health of women and children.
These days, I'm finding myself somewhere in the middle, perhaps I'd label it "sad choice." Keep abortion legal and safe, but let's work together to make it a rarity.
One thing I realized after choosing to have my son was the realization, as a Christian, that life is ANYTHING BUT black and white. It is all shade of gray. And it is messy. While I wish abortion NEVER had to even occur, I also realize that, even AS a BELIEVING Christian, it is NOT my choice to make for someone else -- only me.
This is just what Obama has said over and over, and WE NEED TO CONTINUE THIS DISCUSSION!!!
And it is the reason Palin did it in for me in making my choice NOT to vote for McCain.
This is the perfect middle ground where we can move forward with our varying opinions and actually take some action to improve the lives of children. Another system that needs and overhaul is CPS and the foster care system. If we put the passion that people have on both sides into changing our systems, increasing access to healthcare and education, then we will surely make progress.
Unfortunately though I think for a lot of "pro life" people it is more about gender and controlling women on a deep subverted psychological level than that actual issue. Otherwise they would be anti war etc.
I think Obama voiced the mainstream opinion very eloquently in the third debate: No one is pro-abortion, it is a tragedy every time, let's find the middle ground to reduced the number of unwanted pregnancies. No need to remind you all of McCain's insulting and belittling response.
1. Pro-choice activists have allowed "pro-choice" to become synonymous with "pro-abortion" and "pro-death", as if allowing choice will mean that pregnant women could not leave the house for fear of being rounded up and having their baby summarily aborted. This has limited the ability of pro-choice to present the case that sex ed and reducing unplanned pregnancies will help lower the abortion rates.
2. The pro-life movement, due to their primary basis being religious opposition, refuses to discuss increasing sex ed and contraception as ways to reduce abortion rates. This group is allowed to sink it's heels in and say "Hmph!" instead of being forced to compromise to make progress.
The middle ground on this issue has been, is, and always will be directly tied to the number of unplanned pregnancies in America, which can be addressed by doing away with these ridiculous "abstinence only" programs. Let's arm our teens and young adults with knowledge instead of truthiness and we might see a LOT of progress on abortion.
I'd happily pay more for food and drink, if it meant the waitstaff earned a decent wage for the job.
And I ALWAYS tip -- I don't pay for obsequious - I pay for the job... but doing it well gets you a bonus.. I don't penalize the waitperson for bad food. I penalize the restaurant.
Also, every study I've ever read states economics is the primary reason. According to you, it's not. If not economics, then what is the most common reason?
Suppose the law were changed, nation-wide, thusly:
If a pregnancy resulted in the death of the mother, then the person who helped cause the pregnancy would then be found guilty of murder, or at least homicide, with mandatory jail time or worse.
If a pregnancy could threaten the life or health of the FATHER, you might find some people's opinion change...
I get it that the religious amongst us do not care about the women at all but hopefully I won't be thrown out of politics as a pro choice advocate if I point out that the maternal mortality rate has risen to the point where the US is 41st. Indeed we have a worse maternal mortality rate than infant mortality rate.
No, Republicans seem to care about children until they're born -- after that, hey, they're on their own.
If the Dems were to co-opt the abortion issue - keeping it legal but working very hard and smartly to concretely reduce the numbers - there would be no such thing as a Republican party as we've known it since the early 1980s.