Abortion Issue

As Democrats continue to sift through the electoral ashes of the midterm meltdown, a number of longtime activists have begun to insist that the party needs to reassert more clearly and forcefully its commitment to reproductive rights. Their argument is that in key states where Democratic senators survived the prevailing anti-incumbent sentiment — notably California and, much more narrowly, Colorado, Nevada and Washington — voters who indicated the greatest concern with a candidate's stand on abortion provided the margin of victory.

I was frankly "flabbergasted" (and I haven't used that word in a long time!) when I viewed the opinion pages of the March 7 Columbia Flier. I counted nine letters in support of Ms. Maria Santo's extremely anti-abortion letter which appeared in the Feb. 28 edition of the Flier.  And how many letters taking the opposing pro-choice view appeared in the opinion pages of the March 7 Flier? None!  Zilch! Nada!  Imagine that! I'm left to assume that either 1) the editors at the Flier are "cherry-picking" the letters to the editor to push a particular bias or agenda on the abortion issue;  2)

Washington. -- Democrats, so often mistaken about so much in presidential politics, believe they can pluck the flower of opportunity from the nettle of the abortion controversy. But they may be misreading the significance of the Supreme Court's decision to rule by July on Pennsylvania's abortion law.A divided court may give dusty answers about the constitutionality of that law's various provisions. Besides, for most Americans abortion is a troubling but peripheral issue, especially during the ravages of a recession.

It's time for the Maryland State Police and the Attorney General's Office to stop wasting time, back off and settle with anti-abortion protesters who were arrested in the summer of 2008 in Harford County. Yes, the protesters were mostly from out of town. Yes, the posters they were displaying to traffic on Route 24 were graphic and unpleasant. And they probably were looking to maximize their exposure and their arrest probably did more to help publicize their cause than the initial demonstration.

WASHINGTON -- President Clinton, in vetoing the bill that would ban what abortion foes call ''partial-birth'' abortions, insisted that ''this is not about the pro-choice, pro-life debate'' and ''not a bill that should have ever been injected into that.'' He should have been so lucky.Given the degree to which abortion has been politicized before and ever since the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision establishing a women's right to have an abortion, it was inevitable that this bill would be seized upon by the anti-abortion forces to dramatize their side of the argument.

The conviction, the passion, the resolve, the physical and intellectual energy, millions of hours of protest, millions of words spoken and written -- all that has been invested in the battle over abortion still cannot claim for this society a consensus. And it will be another generation that judges whether we have wasted too much time on the point.In one sense we haven't. Debate, a wise man said, is the music of democracy. The music is often harsh and shrill and prolonged, but, to paraphrase Jefferson, debate is as necessary to the political world as storms to the physical.

WASHINGTON -- Advocates and opponents of abortion rights both threatened yesterday to kill health care reform legislation if they don't get their way on abortion coverage, as congressional leaders began to search for a compromise on the issue.Some leaders were hoping to find a way to postpone a confrontation over the fiercely emotional abortion issue until after the overhaul of the nation's health care system is completed.But it was unclear that either side would agree to such a deal."We believe all Americans, including women, should be treated equally," said Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, a Maryland Democrat, who urged her male colleagues at a leadership meeting yesterday not to be so quick to yield to pressure from opponents of abortion.

CAIRO, Egypt -- The United States is trying to downplay the dispute over abortion at the international conference on population, but opponents say they do not trust the Clinton administration.The conference of 170 nations formally opened yesterday, and Vice President Al Gore sought to portray the criticism of his country's stand on abortion as a "lingering misunderstanding."But the Vatican, Islamic critics and abortion opponents remained wary. They believe that the Clinton administration is plotting to upend policies remaining from the Reagan administration prohibiting U.S. aid for abortions.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- When Gov. Bill Clinton brought hi presidential campaign to the University of Notre Dame the other day, he was well aware that his support of abortion rights could be a political minefield. But he navigated it deftly by focusing on life after birth.In a style that brought to mind Democratic Rep. Barney Frank's old wisecrack that President Bush was concerned about children from conception to birth, Clinton talked of the obligation to assure the healthy and intellectual development of "every child born in the U.S.A."

The earlier editions of yesterday's Evening Sun incorrectly identified a photo as that of 5th District state Senate winner Larry Haines.The Evening Sun regrets the error.The abortion picture in Maryland is cloudy again and the chances of wholesale tax reform seem dimmer in the aftermath of legislative elections rocked by anti-incumbent tremors and a GOP surge.After the defeat of four anti-abortion senators in the September primary, Maryland's pro-choice forces were optimistic that yesterday's vote would secure a Senate that is filibuster-proof when the issue is abortion rights.

Early Saturday morning, the House Republicans succeeded in passing a budget amendment stripping federal funds from Planned Parenthood. While not as disastrous as the complete defunding of Title X (all federally funded family planning services) — which is desired by many of the tea partiers in Congress — these cuts, if allowed to go forward, would seriously diminish the ability of millions of American women to plan how they and their families lead their lives. As a physician who has worked in family planning clinics in one of the poorest cities and one of the wealthiest suburban counties in the country, I have treated young and middle-aged women of all income levels and all backgrounds.

As Democrats continue to sift through the electoral ashes of the midterm meltdown, a number of longtime activists have begun to insist that the party needs to reassert more clearly and forcefully its commitment to reproductive rights. Their argument is that in key states where Democratic senators survived the prevailing anti-incumbent sentiment — notably California and, much more narrowly, Colorado, Nevada and Washington — voters who indicated the greatest concern with a candidate's stand on abortion provided the margin of victory.

As President Barack Obama prepares to address Congress on health care reform, America's pro-life movement is gassing up. If Mr. Obama hasn't liked the tenor of town-hall meetings, wait until he meets pro-lifers at full throttle. They're planning a major drive to try to stop federal funding of abortion as allowed under proposed health care legislation. Mr. Obama has partly invited this havoc by not being completely forthright about how health care reform, as currently proposed, would provide taxpayer funding for abortion.

Priest is wrong to pigeonhole voters According to a recent article, "The Rev. Joseph Illo ... has told parishioners in a homily and in a follow-up letter that if they voted for Barack Obama, they should consider going to confession because of the president-elect's position on abortion" ("Priest urges confession for Obama supporters," Nov. 30). Reports like this one disappoint me. I would hope those in positions of moral leadership would exhibit greater understanding. Abortion is a particularly important issue for Catholics, as it is for many other Christians, and such social issues get a tremendous amount of attention from voters who consider themselves to be religious.

KYLE, S.D. -- Cecelia Fire Thunder likes to recount the legend of the White Buffalo Calf Woman, who delivered the sacred pipe and its teachings to the Lakota nation. Long ago, the legend goes, two men encountered a holy woman who first appeared to them as a white buffalo calf. One man, awe-struck, prayed. The other had lustful thoughts and tried to grab the woman. He was turned into a pile of bones. "The first teaching of the pipe is sexual respect for women," said Fire Thunder, the first female president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

WASHINGTON - For many of the activists who have dedicated themselves to the battle over the U.S. Supreme Court, abortion rights is the issue that unites them. Yesterday, they got a chance to hear Judge John G. Roberts Jr. speak at length - and repeatedly - about the issue. But they didn't necessarily come away satisfied. Supporters of abortion rights were frustrated that Roberts did not talk in greater detail about his thoughts on Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 case affirming abortion rights, and another seminal case, 1992's Casey v. Planned Parenthood of Pennsylvania, which revised the Roe decision but affirmed its core.

Washington---Chatting with reporters on the Kennebunkport golf course, President Bush has struck many poses -- most of them tough, as when he warned Saddam Hussein to get out of Kuwait. Never before have we witnessed him trying to be invisible, as he did when asked Wednesday about his administration's role in the Wichita abortion protest case.Somebody noted that the judge involved had said the Justice Department's intervention was a political move. ''I can't imagine why,'' Mr. Bush said with a straight face.

CHICAGO - George W. Bush has succeeded through his reputation as a straight talker who doesn't shrink from a fight, regardless of the political consequences. When he chooses a successor for Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, we'll find out if the reputation is warranted. The central issue hanging over the court for the last 32 years has been abortion. When conservatives talk about the imperial judiciary or judges who legislate social policy from the bench, they're thinking first and last of the court's 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade - which gave constitutional protection to abortion rights.

A marathon legal fight over protests outside abortion clinics will return to the Supreme Court for a third time, with the justices agreeing yesterday to revisit whether federal racketeering and extortion laws can be used to stop menacing blockades outside clinic entrances. The court agreed to hear what is now a 19-year-old case - the second abortion-related case on next term's calendar - as it finished its work for the summer with no public indication that Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist plans to retire, as many predicted.