From the Culture Wars to the Common Good

For those who see abortion as a problem to address rather than a symbol to wield for partisan gain, the Democrats' abortion reduction bill should be welcomed as real progress.

Last week, Democrats in the House made a quiet but significant step toward healing one of America's deepest divides by passing the "Reducing the Need for Abortions Initiative" as part of the 2008 Labor-HHS Appropriations bill for 2008. 

The $647 million abortion reduction package includes many of the provisions in the Reducing the Need for Abortions and Supporting Parents Act (H.R. 1074), legislation developed by Third Way, a progressive think tank, in partnership with pro-life Democrat Tim Ryan (OH – 17) and pro-choice Democrat Rosa L. DeLauro (CT – 3).

The bill's novel approach seeks to reduce the need for abortions by increasing resources both for prevention of unintended pregnancies (such as contraception, sex education, and after school programs) and for services to meet the needs of young women in difficult circumstances who may be deciding whether they are in a position to raise a child (such as child care and health care assistance, adoption awareness). This approach stakes out a new, more nuanced position for the Democratic Party that takes seriously the moral complexity that many Americans feel on this issue.  As Rachel Laser, Director of the Third Way Culture Project, noted in a recent dispatch about the legislation, "The Democrats remain and will always be the party of abortion rights, but they are looking more and more like they are also the party of reducing the need for abortion." 

The significance of progress on this front should not be underestimated.  The issue of abortion has been the quintessential "wedge issue." As it has been marshaled in endless political races over the last few decades, abortion has evolved into a kind of proper noun that conjures an entire worldview.  For both Republicans and Democrats, it has become a symbol that inspires, a badge that identifies friend or foe, a litmus test for inclusion, a banner under which to march.  One only needs to look at local races, where candidates for school board or county clerk often include their stance on abortion in campaign materials, survey bumper stickers in an average parking lot, or listen in on first dates when the conversation turns to politics to see its symbolic power.  "So, are you pro-life or pro-choice?"  The question demands a binary answer even as most of us struggle internally with all the qualifiers we really feel. 

Despite the binary nature of the issue as a symbol, when asked the right questions, Americans demonstrate this complexity.  According to the recent 2006 Pew Religion and Public Life Survey, a majority (55%) of the country can be called "abortion grays," who think that abortion should neither be legal nor illegal all the time.  Most importantly, two-thirds (66%) of Americans (and even 61% of white Evangelicals) believe that the country should find some "middle ground" on abortion laws (Pew, August 3, 2006). 

The complexities of the issue are felt especially when binary positions are put into conversation with the language of faith.  To put this in the context of Christianity, on the one hand, Christians are certainly commanded to value and protect life, but not in an unqualified way or at all costs — note for example the cases of rape, incest, or saving the life of the mother, where even a majority (51%) of white Evangelicals believe abortion is allowable (Pew, August 3, 2006).  On the other hand, Christians are commanded to respect the human capacity and responsibility for making free choices, to be compassionate, and to support social conditions that allow choices to truly be free.  And as far back as Augustine in the 4^th century, Christians have understand this world as an imperfect place where difficult, even tragic choices are sometimes made and where the coercive power of law has its limits.  

The problem with issues that become symbols is that they spawn entire industries that, rather than looking for solutions that work for the common good, have a vested interest in perpetuating polarization.  Although the Republican Party and the far religious right have marketed abortion, religion, and the GOP as a seamless garment, it is striking that with a Republican president and Congress, this administration has done virtually nothing that would actually reduce the number of abortions in America.  For serious people of faith who care about abortion as a problem to address rather than a symbol to wield merely for partisan gain, this new Democratic effort to find common ground on the shared value of reducing abortions without imperiling a woman's health or putting anyone in prison should be welcomed as real progress and as a hopeful beginning to a new, more civil era in our shared public life.