Looking forward ....... a view on abortion that some of you may not know [View All]

[Stinky The Clown]

This might be familiar territory to some of you. It is to me. It also explains some of the seemingly conflicting (conflicted?) statements some of our leaders have been quoted as making. It also led to some flamefests right here in River City (DU). But it is neither wrong nor inconsistent with our core values.

What brought this up for me was our houseguests this week, and our trips to DC to do some sightseeing. Like many fanmilies, ours has some division around this issue. But sane, respectful conversations are quck to find common ground. One of Sparkly's sisters is an evangelical Christian. Even more deeply faithful is her daughter (Sparkly's neice). The bottom line is that abortion is *the* defining issue.

While in DC yesterday doing the tourista thing, we encountered several women from Sojourners counterprotesting in front of the Supreme Court. Nothing unusual or spectacular, just quietly standing there near some other protesters who were from the nutter wing of Christians.

I found this article on Sojourners' website. It is a bit old, but not at all without currency.

http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=magazine.article&issue=soj0406&article=040651

Many Democrats fail to comprehend how fundamental the conviction on "the sacredness of human life" is for millions of Christians, especially Catholics and evangelicals, including those who are strongly committed on other issues of justice and peace and those who wouldn’t criminalize abortion even as they oppose it. Liberal political correctness, which includes a rigid litmus test of being "pro-choice," really breaks down here. And the conventional liberal political wisdom that people who are conservative on abortion are conservative on everything else is just wrong. Christians who are economic populists, peacemaking internationalists, and committed feminists can also be "pro-life." The roots of this conviction are deeply biblical and, for many, consistent with a commitment to nonviolence as a gospel way of life.

And there are literally millions of votes at stake in this liberal miscalculation. Virtually everywhere I go, I encounter moderate and progressive Christians who find it painfully difficult to vote Democratic given the party’s rigid, ideological stance on this critical moral issue, a stance they regard as "pro-abortion." Except for this major and, in some cases, insurmountable obstacle, these voters would be casting Democratic ballots.

Ironically, the Republicans, who actively and successfully court the votes of Christians on abortion, are much more ecumenical in their own toleration of a variety of views within their own party. For example, fellow Republicans have not enforced anti-abortion orthodoxies on their rising new star, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose pro-choice views seem not to be a problem. Indeed, there is now a long list of pro-choice Republicans whose support the party seems to regard as crucial to its success. The Republican Party takes a very strong anti-abortion stance in its party platforms but then allows for a wide variety of opinions based on either conscience or pragmatic political calculations.

But to be a "pro-life" Democrat is to be a very lonely political creature in America, as U.S. Catholic’s Heidi Schlumpf explains in our cover feature. Former Pennsylvania Gov. Robert Casey, a pro-life Catholic, was denied the opportunity to speak at the 1992 and 1996 Democratic conventions. It didn’t matter that Casey was progressive on economic and foreign policy questions and an outspoken supporter of women’s rights; he didn’t have the right position on abortion. Former Ohio Rep. Tony Hall, an evangelical Christian, experienced similar discrimination as a pro-life Democrat despite being perhaps the most courageous congressional champion on issues of hunger and poverty. The Democratic National Committee refuses even to allow a link on its Web site for pro-life Democrats.

I am steadfastly pro choice and can accept no compromise on **the law** that supports it. But I am very much in favor of finding common ground wherever it exists and is consistent with my own views (which are pretty much the same as anyone here on DU).

I'd love to hear your views on the Sojourners' stance on abortion.