On the Road to Making Aboritons Illegal, Perhaps Republicans Should Focus on Reducing Them As Well.

This post is an extract from my book How Can You Possibly be a Mormon and a Democrat?: Pespectives on Abortion, Economics, the Environment and Harry Reid

It is a misconception (on both sides) that overturning Roe v. Wade will result in the nationwide illegalization of abortions. The battle would merely shift ground to the states. This may satisfy the purely states’ rights conservatives while the true anti-abortion conservatives would take up their position in their respective states with a variety of strategies, protests and litmus tests for politicians. Essentially, the battle to outlaw abortion would go on as it did before, just as it has for almost four decades.
 
Perhaps the pro-life movement should look beyond Roe v. Wade. Moreover, conservatives should realize that battling abortion should not be solely confined to outlawing it. Republican politicians, for example, are so gung-ho (around election time) about outlawing abortion that they seem to have little energy left for preventing and reducing abortions.

 

There are around 3,300 abortions (at minimum) occurring each day in this country. That’s a full half of the number of deaths that occur from any and all causes.

And here is my point: these abortions continue every single day, despite 35+ years of rallies, money, prayers, propaganda, abortion clinic bombings, peaceful protests and all manner of politically motivated and sincere efforts to outlaw abortion! For a pro-lifers, like myself, what does the Republican party offer besides rhetoric? This rhetoric is effective at demonizing liberals and Democrats but it is demonstrably impotent at outlawing abortion. Is it possible that preventing and reducing abortions might be the exclusive work of Democrats? As a Republican, I shudder at the thought, but...

For example, in 2005 the life-long pro-life Senator Harry Reid not only launched an anti-abortion initiative, known as the “Prevention First Bill”, but he also managed to secure Hilary Clinton as a co-sponsor. Reid explains:

Whether you are pro-life or pro-choice, our amendment advances goals we should all share: reducing the number of unintended pregnancies, reducing the number of abortions and improving access to women’s health care. (Myers, Dennis. “Prevent Pregnancy, Prevent Abortion.” News Review.com, September 15, 2005)

So, how did the bill do? The vote was 47-53 against. All of the nay votes came from the Republicans.

Of course, although Senator Reid’s goal was, in part, to reduce abortions, he did have a couple of serious liabilities with regards to gaining any Republican support. I don’t know which was worse in the eyes of the Republicans: Was it the fact that his bill seeks to improve access to women’s health care? Or would supporting the bill mean reaching across the aisle to the likes of Hillary Clinton? Is that what Republicans are so afraid of?

In the meantime… 3,300 per day.

This is, once again, an extract from my book How Can You Possibly be a Mormon and a Democrat?