The heart of the matter.

The attention surrounding the nomination of Governor Palin as Senator McCain’s vice presidential running mate continues to build and reveal….

Most interestingly, the debate about feminism has been challenged, perhaps as never before.

The question facing us is whether a woman who happens to be pro-life and who prays can exemplify the goals of feminism. For many of us, the answer is unabashedly in the affirmative, regardless of our views on abortion and religion. Cathy Young has this concise piece in The Wall Street Journal. While Young is not a social conservative, she points out the duplicity of elitist/radical feminists who oppose the governor’s nomination based on her beliefs rather than her qualifications.

Of course, being a feminist role model is not part of the vice president’s job description, and there are legitimate questions about Mrs. Palin’s qualifications. And yet, like millions of American women — and men — I find her can-do feminism infinitely more liberated than the what-can-the-government-do-for-me brand espoused by the sisterhood.
Rachel Campos-Duffy (yes, Rachel from MTV’s “Real World”) has two good blog entries here and here. I love this suggestion:

As for Oprah, well this whole debate could be resolved by simply inviting Todd to the show. Who better to speak about the conditions necessary for female advancement and fulfillment? Come on Oprah, forget Tom Cruise. Put the hunky, helpful husband on your couch!

But I continue to ponder the deeper Palin-effect. It’s not just that the governor’s nomination has turned feminism upside down. As someone put it, she hasn’t broken the glass ceiling; she’s walking ON it. It’s that she has taken motherhood and femininity to a whole different level. I think it was Laura Ingraham who commented that we have no idea how many babies were saved simply by the witness she provided when she took her Down Syndrome baby in her arms immediately after her speech at the RNC. How many women in difficult pregnancies looked at her and thought, “I can do it, too!”?

My friend Melinda Tankard Reist has written two books that prompt my thoughts. The first, Defiant Birth, published by Spinefex Press, a feminist publishing house, examines the stories of women who resisted the coercion to abort their less-than-perfect babies. Her other book, Giving Sorrow Words, details the stories of women who had abortions only to experience painful regret.

When I watch the fury surrounding her nomination, I can’t resist the urge to be the armchair psychologist. I wonder how many women who react so bitterly to the very person of Sarah Palin are in fact responding to their own hurt whether it’s because they had an abortion or put off marriage and children in order to have a career. Sarah Palin has what so many (most?) women dream of. Remember, according to the Alan Guttmacher Institute – the research arm of Planned Parenthood – about 35% of all women have had an abortion by age 45. Until recently, that number was much higher – about 43%. That’s a lot of women who have made choices that might have made them feel powerless. Those who are not driven by their own pain may in fact be able to see that in the governor, we have a woman who has a successful career and family life without ever feeling that she had no choice but abortion.