Digby and Duncan brought up the subject, so I just wanted to say a few things. first, in reference to Digby's post, which is a rejection of the idea that Democrats should reach out to evangelicals because they are unregenerately Republican and, besides, who needs God on your side, right? Anyway, because one of the consultants the Democratic Party used was an evangelical, and raised the possibility of a reconsideration of blind adherence to a simplistic pro-choice position, this is incipient Republicanism sneaking in through the back way, which must be fought at all cost.
Atrios, on the other hand, offers a more direct approach. Debate is not necessary because the liberal position on alternatives to abortion - better education and access to adequate health care - are those offered by "moderates", so there is no debate. The end.
Except, of course, there hasn't been any debate at all, since Roe v Wade essentially closed off debate, opening the way for the polarization of public dialogue. The pro-choice position, staked out in the shadow of Justice Blackmun's confused and confusing opinion, understands its own precariousness, as each election cycle the dread prospect of overturning the decision is dragged out,k with all sorts of threats to the republic to follow. This has been the real debate - people pelting plastic feti and screaming "Babykiller!" at women entering clincs on the one side; the politics of fear on the other - and it ignores the ambivalence most Americans feel towards the procedure and its current legal standing.
Of course, overturning Roe would mean little. The vast majority of counties in the United States do not offer abortion services at all. If you live in North Dakota, there is one clinic in the entire state the provides the service, or you can go to the Twin Cities in Minnesota. The practicalities of abortion are making the legal debates obsolete.
At the same time, Duncan has a very good point. Better sex education has always been shown to have a positive impact on sexual behavior, sexually transmitted disease rates, teen pregnancy rates, and abortion rates. Until there are some kind of national minimal standards on sex education - more than abstinence only, please - we will continue to deny our young people access to the information they need to make good, informed choices. That this is inhibited by political forces that seek to deny any information about sex out of fear is undeniable; that some of these forces are Christian is also undeniable. This in no way makes them right (yes, even Christians can be wrong).
I honestly hope that Roe (or its follow-on case, 1989's Planned Parenthood of Pennsylvania v Casey) is overturned, and abortion politics are returned to the arena of serious public debate. Both the left and the right might be surprised at what transpires as America really wrestles, for the first time, with abortion as a political issue that lies within their control, not in the hands of ideologues whose only desire is power.
Virtual Tin Cup
