In the wake of the Akin debacle, there has been some focus on the Republican position(s) on abortion. But Jeff Jacoby, writing in the Boston Globe, notes that the Democrats are way ouf of the mainstream. From, “Both Parties are Too Extreme on Abortion:”
Though one-third of Democrats identify themselves as pro-life, the Democratic Party platform is strident in its defense of abortion on demand. The party “strongly and unequivocally supports Roe v. Wade,” the platform avows, and abortion must be made available “regardless of ability to pay” — that is, at public expense. The 2012 platform, in language recycled from 2008, vows to “oppose any and all efforts to weaken or undermine” the availability of abortion. While solid majorities of Democrats back some limitations on abortion — 59 percent would ban partial-birth abortions, for example, and 60 percent endorse a mandatory waiting period — the official position of their party is that even common-sense restrictions are unthinkable.
In 2000, the Democratic platform said the party’s goal was “to make abortion less necessary and more rare.” The 2004 platform declared, “Abortion should be safe, legal, and rare.” But even calling for abortion to be “rare” is now too much for the Democrats’ platform committee, which deleted the word in 2008.
At least that is honest. The “rare” bromide was always baloney. After all, if there is nothing wrong with abortion—which is the official position of the Democratic Party—why would anyone care if the procedures were rare? Do we want appendicitis operations to be rare? No. Do we want rhinoplasty surgeries to be rare? (Well, I do, but that’s me.) Most would say no. How about tooth extractions. No.
If Obamacare remains in effect, eventually Congress will revoke the abortion restrictions currently in the law. Then, we’ll see a “Free Abortion Rule,” patterned after the Free Birth Control Rule.
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