| Still it works, like so many Republican policy prescriptions work on the campaign trail, just as long as it is not questioned too closely. For people who oppose abortion a lot of effort has been made to demonize the doctors who perform this legal procedure. They are the ones duping the poor pregnant women into making the choice to terminate their abortion. This is how it has become acceptable in the more fringe groups to commit terrorist acts (let's not candy coat it, killing doctors in their own churches is an act of terror no matter who does it or why) .
To put this in the proper perspective we need to ask what these candidates would propose if they got their fondest wish and all abortion would be outlawed. What happens to the women who would seek out these services? We know that they will, before abortion was legalized women still had them and died from complications in numbers every single year. We can be sure they would be willing to punish anyone performing the abortion, but given the rhetoric that abortion is murder will these five candidates be willing to say they would support felony prosecutions for women that have abortions? Murder generally carries a long prison sentence, are they willing to put teenagers and women with children they can't care for already in prison for a decade or more because they don't want a child or another child?
There is also the issue of birth control. Ken Buck believes that life begins at conception, so does that mean he would outlaw methods of birth control which prevent the implantation of the fertilized ovum? I don't know about ya'll but I have two parents who both had 12 brothers and sisters from playing Vatican Roulette and I sure as hell do not want to go back to that.
This is the framing we need to put on this issue. If they crazed Right is really serious about making abortion illegal, then five new hard and insanely anti-choice Republican Senators is the way to do it. If all five of these candidates were elected that is 5% of the Senate who will judge every single Supreme Court nomination through the lens of abortion rights repeal. Given the number of already hard right Republican Senators it could make a huge difference.
It is time to throw a little cold water on the heated rhetoric of the Tea Party candidates. They are getting a free ride on far too many social issues from the economic anger that is fueling this election. These folks are not new fiscal conservatives who have just popped up in response to Right Wing anger, they are long time party activists who have the same regressive social agenda that we have been fighting since Regan was president.
If you are in any of the states which these candidates are running it is time to try to ask them if they would imprison women who have abortions. I am going to try to get Ken Buck on record as to what he will do, who can help me get the rest?
This is a really bad issue for these candidates. Everyone on the anti-choice side is willing to punish doctors, but most folks can imagine or know someone who has had to have an abortion for some reason. They can intellectualize the incredibly draconian nature of imprisoning a woman for having an abortion. This is the kind of thing that moderate Republicans and Independent voters hear and it reminds them why they left the party or voted against it in previous elections. If we can get it out there it can blunt some of the momentum the Tea Party insanity has provided for the Republicans.
If we can make it clear how extreme this crowd really is, if they are so zealous about their anti-choice position that they are willing to lock up women who seek abortions, then we should make them live with the voters knowing that and making it part of their decision to vote for or against this Nov. 2nd.
The floor is yours |
