A Question Worth Asking

Is abortion bad? That is the title of an exchange between William Saletan and Katha Pollitt today in Slate. It builds on a column Saletan wrote in the New York Times last weekend, in which he goes so far as to say that "It's time for the abortion-rights movement to declare war on abortion." In the wake of these exchanges, E.J. Dionne gives a gem of a column entitled 'Bridging the Divide on Abortion,' in this morning's Washington Post.

These are debates that have to happen, questions that must be asked. Strict pro-choicers like Pollitt will object that the debates yield too much ground to the opposition and weaken the liberal position, but the truth of the matter is that refusing to engage in such debates would signal the true weakness: that of a shrill and rigid orthodoxy that feels too threatened to engage public opinion or even the mildest dissent.

Because no matter how much strict pro-choicers might want to insist that an abortion is not a moral decision, this is profoundly out of touch with the emotional reality of the situation as experienced by the majority of the American public. Most Americans want abortion to remain legal, but most also want it acknowledged for the tragic moral situation that it is.

Saletan and Dionne both realize that unless liberal politicians take active steps to curtail abortions, primarily through education, poverty relief and contraception, all the Hillary-esque rhetoric of abortions being a terrible tragedy will ring hollow. 'Just those slick Democrats responding to poll numbers,' a lot of people will say.

That's because moral language requires follow through. What's interesting is that there are entirely liberal, progressive methods for reducing abortion. Stressing sex education (not that nonsense of abstinence only), contraceptive use and development, poverty alleviation, and tax credits for adoption are all progressive plans for reducing abortion without attacking women or endangering their health.

Saletan and Dionne certainly don't speak for all Democrats, but they courageously speak a truth that must be heard: those who spout on about 'safe, legal, and rare' must offer concrete proposals that embody that third part of the pro-choice trinity.