Democratic Party Drops “Safe, Legal, and Rare” Language

This just in from Slate magazine, where Linda Hirshman applauds the change in the Democratic Party Platform on abortion. In an aptly titled article “Unnecessarily Evil: Reclaiming the Morality of Abortion and the Overdue Change to the Democratic Platform,” Hirshman applauds the rejection of the “safe, legal, and rare” mantra:

The Democratic Party platform of 2008 finally dropped its old abortion language (“safe, legal and rare”), which had asked that women not have abortions unless they absolutely must. The 2008 platform, just announced , says instead, “The Democratic Party strongly and unequivocally supports Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to choose a safe and legal abortion, regardless of ability to pay, and we oppose any and all efforts to weaken or undermine that right.”

Back in May, the Reverend Tony Campolo, former “spiritual advisor” to President Bill Clinton and evangelical author was appointed to the committee that was to review the Democratic platform. Campolo vowed to represent pro-lifers “to the highest members of the Democratic Party.”  Campolo said he had “received assurances from Democratic officials that the platform committee will hear his pro-life views and that the platform will contain language that addresses the pro-life community’s concerns.”

Nice work, Tony!