The premise of the article is that the Democrats are out of step with majority opinion on pressing abortion on demand for six if not nine months, paid for with public dollars no less but that Republicans let them off the hook when they demand an absolutist position on abortion to secure the nomination:
But this year , that distancing [from an absolutist position that does not include the rape and incest exceptions] may not come cost free. In the March “SEC primaries,” eight Southern states will cast their votes, and candidates will face a GOP electorate where a significant majority declare themselves “born-again” Christians. Back in 2012, Santorum won 11 primaries, running as a social conservative opposed to virtually all abortions. For
those Republicans with more nuanced positions—Jeb Bush, John Kasich—this could be a major problem. But for those embracing the “no exceptions” approach, what aids them in Dixie in March could be fatal nationwide in November.
What about the Democrats? Their platform has embraced the essentials of the “pro-choice” position for the better part of four decades. (Back in 1992, Pennsylvania Governor Bob Casey was barred from even addressing the Democratic convention to argue for a pro-life position.) But up until 2012, it framed the issue the way Bill Clinton had: that abortion should be “safe, legal—and rare.”
In Charlotte, that last caveat was erased. As it now stands, the platform simply asserts that “The Democratic Party strongly and unequivocally supports Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to make decisions regarding her pregnancy, including a safe and legal abortion, regardless of ability to pay. We oppose any and all efforts to weaken or undermine that right.”
Read literally, this would permit abortions—paid for with public funds if necessary—for any abortion at any time for any reason. This is a view that the great majority of Americans reject.
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In another time, a Republican candidate with a position like the one George W. Bush held might find some room to press the Democrat—OK, let’s assume it’s Clinton—on her views. “I disagree with my party’s platform, I favor exceptions,” this theoretical candidate could say. “Do you agree with your party that abortion should be permitted at any time for any reason? You’ve called those Planned Parenthood videos ‘disturbing.’ I find them disturbing too, for the casual way they deal with what you’ve called ‘potential human life.’”
But with the Republicans more and more embracing the most rigid possible position on the pro-life side of the divide, the more it will relieve the Democratic nominee of the need to defend the absolutist posture on her side.Greenfield is exactly right on how the politics and media coverage will play out. Historically the GOP has gained a lot politically because of its pro-life position. In recent years though that has become more problematic as Republican presidential candidates have been forced to eliminate the rape/incest exceptions from their pro-life positions at the demand of an increasingly hard-line GOP electorate. That results in the media, urged by Democratic opponents, focusing on those exceptions deflecting focus from the very unpopular and out of the mainstream support of abortion on demand at any time, for any reason, position of the Democratic Party.
I understand the unborn child is a child regardless of how the baby originates. Got it. But it is also terribly important to me that we Republicans win the abortion issue. Only 1% of abortions are due to rape or incest. ONE PERCENT. Do we really want to completely throw away winning the abortion issue over 1%? Please, my fellow pro-life Republicans, let's not be that foolish.