E. J. Dionne is a liberal columnist, but as a Catholic he has a guilty conscience over abortion. Other progressives do too. Dionne is calling on Barack Obama to carry out his promise to find common ground with pro-lifers and to do things to reduce the number of abortions. From Obama’s Promise to Pro-Lifers:
“There surely is some common ground,” Obama declared toward the end of the third presidential debate.
He argued that “those who believe in choice and those who are opposed to abortion can come together and say, ‘We should try to prevent unintended pregnancies by providing appropriate education to our youth, communicating that sexuality is sacred and that they should not be engaged in cavalier activity, and providing options for adoption, and helping single mothers if they want to choose to keep the baby.’ ” Obama added: “Nobody’s pro-abortion.”
Once he assumes office, Obama might be tempted to forget that moment, issue the pro-choice executive orders that the abortion rights movement expects and move back to the sagging economy. But doing this would be both politically foolish and a breach of faith with the pro-life progressives who came to Obama’s defense during the campaign. They argued that Obama truly was committed to reducing the number of abortions. He shouldn’t turn them into liars.
Rep. Tim Ryan, a pro-life Democrat from Ohio, stumped all over his state urging Catholic groups and others on his side of the abortion question to put their faith in Obama’s pledge. He’s confident Obama will keep it.
In moving quickly, he says, Obama would “show that there is a new politics by acting on one of the most divisive issues of the last 30 years.” . . . He should not lose his chance to make cultural warfare a quaint relic of the past.
What do you think of the prospects of (1) Obama reaching out to the pro-life cause (2) stopping the culture war with measures that still allow abortion?
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