Dem Abortion soundbit with broadest appeal

[skids]

Normally I avoid this issue as the mass public distraction it is.

But my engineer's instinct to tweak gets the better of me, so I ask:

Which of the following is the soundbite with the broadest appeal?

[BlueEyedSon]

1. Abortion should be.... "none of your goddamn business"

In your formulation legal should be first.

[Mandate My Ass]

11. That would be "other" right?

:D

[DemBones DemBones]

12. The taking of human lives is the business of all humans, whether in war

or in abortions, in executions or in euthanasia. All humans have a right and a duty to urge that all killings, by any means, be reduced to the lowest possible number.

Please see my post #10 about reducing the need for abortions as a way to make them rare.

There is no need for so many "unplanned" and unwanted pregnancies to occur in a wealthy and relatively well-educated nation like ours. It shows a failure of our society that so many abortions continue to be performed year after year.

[Mandate My Ass]

13. It's not "taking human life"

It's terminating a pregnancy.

[BlueEyedSon]

15. Except that aborting a fetus is not taking a human life.

What is your definition of human life, and can you substantiate that it is not just an opinion?

[JetCityLiberal]

22. It really is none of your goddamn business

I have read your posts on abortion.

IT REALLY IS NONE OF YOUR GODDAMN BUSINESS.

b*sh appointees spouts the same line of shit.

JetCityLiberal

[ClassWarrior]

2. "Forced Pregnancy Initiatives."

"And how do you expect to care for millions of unwanted children who will be born when abortion is banned? Give them back to infanticidal parents? Raise taxes to pay for their care?"

Let 'em chew that one over.

NGU.

[Plausible]

4. Forcing rape victims

to carry a resulting pregnancy.

The radical clerics will push for making them prove they were raped if it even were enacted to allow abortion only for rape victims.

This is something I think the Dems should use but it is not in the poll.

[demwing]

6. I think that is a poor argument.

It sounds like a National Geographic documentary discussing "thinning of the herd."

Better off dead, eh?

there are much more effective ways of presenting this, all of which have to do with a woman's health, and right to reproductive choice.

[DemBones DemBones]

14. Dems should talk about making abortion rare while keeping it safe and

legal because Republicans want to make it illegal, which will make it unsafe without making it rare (though it would undoubtedly reduce the numbers significantly.)

If Republicans succeed in making abortion illegal, their answer for unwanted children is adoption.

If the choices for pregnant women who don't want their baby are reduced to illegal and unsafe abortion or having their baby and giving it up for adoption, most women will try very hard to avoid getting pregnant when they don't want a child.

That may turn out to be the only way to reduce the numbers of abortions, but I'd prefer that Dems not use the punitive approach.

[CTyankee]

26. Haven't you learned from history

before Roe that women don't avoid abortion when it is unsafe and illegal? They still had abortions, risking their lives and their heatlth. In fact, botched unsafe abortions sent women to the emergency rooms (if they made it that far) in droves before Roe. After Roe, women stopped dying from these abortions! This is a fact. Please understand that your support for making abortion illegal will lead directly to the deaths of women. Think about it.

[BlueEyedSon]

16. I love this term. I'm going to use it. Frank Luntz would be proud!

[mdguss]

3. Morally wrong when used as birth control:

Should be illegal except in cases of rape, incest, and when the life of the mother is endangered.

If it remains legal, then the innocent (the fetus--who could be raised by the parents or adopted by others) has to die for the a legal act performed by two consenting adults. That's unjust, immoral, and wrong.

I'm a pro-life Democrat. I wish there were more of us.

[iamjoy]

7. "Our Goal Is To Reduce Abortions"

"And we feel the (best and safest) way to do that is to make sure women and men have information about and access to a wide range of family planning services and options".
(Let's work together to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies)
(abortion is not birth control)

I wish there were more true pro-lifers, not people who are anti-choice. My distinction is, an anti-choice person would completely disagree with my statement above.

I am a supporter of Planned Parenthood, so reproductive freedom is important to me, but reproductive freedom is not only abortion (I am pro-choice, not pro-abortion). I personally think Pro-Choice people need to build a bridge to Pro-Lifers who support real sex education (not this abstinence only crap).

Anyway, even if you are anti-birth control, I will recognize and respect to call yourself Pro-Life if you are also anti-death penalty and support programs to reduce poverty (and other good populist programs).

[mdguss]

18. I am a Democrat because I believe in government helping those in need:

That doesn't mean I support every program, but I support most of them. As for the death penalty, I oppose it as a general rule. I might make an exception for terrorist leaders like bin Laden and war criminals like Saddam Hussein...but generally, I think it doesn't solve anything.

.

[iamjoy]

24. Good For You

We must not allow this issue to divide our party as it has divided our country.

I do believe Pro-Life Democrats can have a future in this party, but like all Democrats, they must learn framing. So, their challenge might be doubly hard.

In the public eye, Pro-Life Democarts should try to avoid getting into a debate about the specifics of abortion (what, when it should be legal). Instead, they should focus on other core Democratic values: health care for all, liveable wages, etc.

Something Like:
"A culture of life goes beyond criminilizing abortion. A culture of life means that children do not have to learn in crumbling schools without enough textbooks. When a child goes to bed hungry in this, the richest nation in the world, we are saying we don't care about that child. When working people are denied access to the best health system in the world because they are poor, we are saying we don't value them."

"Would I vote to restrict abortion? It depends on the the bill. I would not vote for anything that did not have *adequate* protection for the mother's health."

Or If Really Pressed
"Democrats believe in protecting the most vulnerable in our society. For me, that is the unborn. I respect that others in the party feel differently. (We're a big party, we tolerate diversity. I have more in common with them than not)"

[mdguss]

25. I respect others opinions:

I think abortions should be illegal except in cases of rape, incest, or when the life of the mother is endangered.

But no to the overly broad "health of the mother," I might support a health exemption for paralysis...but the health exemption renders the pro-life position moot. (As other pro-life Democrats have said, I think abortion said on demand should be illegal). Ok to have an abortion because the mother might be at an increased risk of the flu? That's the problem with a broad health exemption--a serious, long-term injury exemption--I and many other pro-lifers might be able to support.

As for speaking up about I will because I believe that it is unfair to prevent the fetus from living because two consenting adults are not prepared to deal with the consequences of a legal act that they performed.

It's a moral issue, and one that I feel passionately about. As making sure everyone has equal access to higher education is a moral issue...

[iamjoy]

27. That's Okay

sometimes health exemptions can be overly broad, I suppose. And we can debate what constitues significant threat for months and accomplish nothing. There are too many other issues on which we agree.

I don't see why it is such a problem for the Democrats, it doesn't seem to be for the Republicans. Their party platform is Pro-Life, but they aren't kicking out Olympia Snowe (she is Pro-Choice). Although I think some want to take down Arlen Specter.

[IronLionZion]

23. Democrats are the real pro-lifers

because we care about people after they are born too. Chairman Dean understands this and welcomes pro-life Democrats because we are a big tent party.

[FromTheLeft]

8. So close yet so far

Morally I totally agree with you, every time I have sex I have to accept that no matter how "protected" and "safe" we are a child can be the product of that act.

OTOH I do not have the right in this country to dictate how someone treats their own body, and until that fetus is developed enough to survive on its own with out drawn the nutrients in needs to develop and survive directly from its host mother, it is an appendage of that woman.

The line should be Rare and Safe. Do not even acknowledge the idea of it being illegal because the more we do that the more power we give to that idea. Focus on more sex education, for both adults and children.

Studies have shown that despite what parents think about kids getting information about sex from their friends the number one influence in the decisions they make in life are the values that their parents instill in them through honest conversations, not lectures.

[Lars39]

10. And I'm glad there aren't.

Depriving women of the right to choose what is best for themselves is wrong.

[BlueEyedSon]

17. The fetus cannot die because it is not alive.

[Is It Fascism Yet]

21. 2 consenting adults? Sorry, if I want to have an abortion, I do not

require consent from anybody else, and that is the way it should be, for I am not a brood mare, and I do not breed on demand from others.

[demwing]

5. Safe first, rare last, because...

people pay attention at the beginning, and look for clues to what's at the end of most of what they listen to.

Safety first--and last (as in last resort), rare.

Thats what most people want to hear, IMO.

[DemBones DemBones]

9. I voted "rare, safe, and legal" because Dems need to emphasize efforts to

make abortion rare.

NOT by excessive restrictions but by decreasing the demand, the need, for abortions.

Economic pressures are a big factors in many abortions so building a stronger economy with more benefits to help pregnant women, single mothers, working mothers, and children all help ease those economic pressures.

Some unwanted pregnancies are due to incorrect use of contraceptives, or even to lack of a source for contraceptives, so better sex education, with increased emphasis on proper use of contraceptives, is something to work toward, as is increased availability of contraceptives.

Here's a simple example: my dentist has a sign in all his treatment rooms that warns patients that antibiotics can interfere with how birth control pills and IUDs work and instructs them to use another method while they're taking antibiotics and for some time afterward. Every doctor and pharmacy should have this sign in plain view in every room. This should be on the packaging of birth control pills (and it may be) AND on the label of every antibiotic prescribed to anyone. (If kids or men read it, they'll be aware of it and may ultimately inform a woman who hasn't read it.) It should be taught in school -- I used to slip this sort of information into my biology classes all the time and never had a complaint from a parent. It can be taught while discussing drug interactions.

I'm opposed to abortion but I know that the way to "end" it is to change people's attitudes so that they try harder to avoid unplanned pregnancies, and to better educate people about contraceptives and take the economic measures I mention. There are probably many things to do to improve adoption procedures, too, to make adoption a better solution then abortion for women who cannot keep their child, for whatever reason.

The problem is not that abortion is legal, the problem is that it is too commonly used.
Everyone needs to take responsibility to help make it rare by being responsible in their own sexual conduct. Everyone should know that if they don't want a child, they should use birth control correctly every single time they have sex. They should know what methods are most effective and how to make the less effective ones work better, like always using a spermicidal foam when you use a condom, don't just count on one or the other. Parents need to teach that and schools need to reinforce it (and teach it to those who weren't taught at home.)

[Jersey Ginny]

19. There is no abortion "problem"

Have you been reading the Luntz propaganda book? The problem is a lack of access to education and contraception. The other "problem" is that the decision to have an abortion or not is a very difficult one. You won't take away any of these "problems" by reframing the argument to "meet" the radical right. Democrats must protect American privacy rights on all fronts! Democrats must trust the American people to make difficult personal decisions.

[Is It Fascism Yet]

20. If you don't like abortion don't have one. n/t