Check out Rich Lowry’s National Review Column on the political shift in the Democratic party on abortion:
Bob Casey Jr. isn’t being punished for the sins of his father, even though he shares them. Casey is a Democrat running for the U.S. Senate. His late father, then the governor of Pennsylvania, was banned from the podium of the 1992 Democratic Convention because he was pro-life. Casey Jr. is pro-life too, but the national party is embracing him.Improved technology has provided a window to the womb and abortion opponents have concentrated on incremental legislation, targeting the most gruesome and obviously immoral practices of abortion providers. Both have changed the minds of the American people and now the Democratic Party is beginning to find its extreme stand on abortion to be a political liability.This shift is a sign that the Democrats are beginning to grapple with a painful truth, one that will hurt even more as its full weight becomes evident to them: The absolutist pro-choice position on abortion is a political loser. In his brilliant and incisive new book, The Party of Death, my colleague Ramesh Ponnuru demonstrates why.
Lowry notes Sen. John Kerry’s “pro-life” stance on abortion - a position he trumpeted during the last presidential election. The Senator is personally opposed to abortion, believing that life begins at conception, but is not willing to impose his view on others. In his book, Ponnuru traces this political tactic back to Mario Cuomo, the astute three-term governor of New York who began the claim to be “personally opposed” in a 1984 speech at Notre Dame. This position has been often repeated by Democrats, especially since the American public has become wise to the radical pro-abortion position of the Democratic platform.
However, being “personally opposed” to abortion suffers from an obvious flaw which Ponnuru aptly points out :
The only defensible basis for judging abortion immoral – the conviction that it is usually the unjust taking of human life – also seemed to be a reason to enact a general legal prohibition on it. “Personally opposed” seemed to be nothing more that an incantation designed to keep incontrovertible premises from leading to inconvenient conclusions. Cuomo did not really solve this problem, but threw up numerous smokescreens to obscure it.The “smokescreens” have generally become obvious and Democrats would be wise to understand that no real pro-lifer disagrees with the goal of legal protection for the unborn.
While a change in the Democratic position on abortion is long overdue, a true change involves seeking the truth, identifying error and altering beliefs and actions accordingly. The LA Times previously reported:
Party leaders say their support for preserving the landmark ruling will not change. But they are looking at ways to soften the hard line, such as promoting adoption and embracing parental notification requirements for minors and bans on late-term abortions.The problem are represented by Democratic leaders is not in the party’s position but rather is how their message was presented. On this issue the New York Times reported
Party leaders said they were not abandoning their fundamental support for abortion rights, but said Democrats should consider accepting some restrictions that enjoy popular support - like parental notification when teenagers receive abortions.What I read into these earlier articles, published in 2004, is that no change in the actual pro-abortion position will occur although there may be a re-packaging and compromise on some legislation to make the pro-abortion message more attractive to some voters.[snip]
Simon Rosenberg, the president of the moderate New Democratic Network and also a candidate to lead the Democratic Party, said: "Being pro-choice is not only a majority position in the party, it's a majority position in the country. I don't think we have to run away from choice as a party, but I do think we have to explain our position that we want to make abortion safe, legal and rare." That formulation was a trademark phrase of former President Bill Clinton.
And, while some Democrats may actually want a chage, extreme pro-abortion groups are situated in seats of power within their party.
Lowry concludes in a similar fashion:
Democrats, of course, will resist that logic strenuously. They might stomach Bob Casey Jr., but only because he is running against pro-life leader Sen. Rick Santorum, and a Casey victory could help deliver the Senate to pro-choice Democrats. This Casey is welcome, but only so long as he is useful to the uncompromising and ultimately untenable cause of abortion on demand.
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