The 800 pound Gorilla

While doing campaign work (knocking on doors) for a Democratic candidate in the last election, I stopped by a young family doing yard work. I offered my pamphlet to the father, and one of his children asked, “Dad, who are Democrats?” His reply still rings in my ears. “They are the ones who want abortion and gun control, not good for us.”

This article is about the 800 pound gorilla in the room, abortion. (I promise to talk about gun control later.)

I am sorry that this oft-spoken position is the (incorrect) opinion of Democrats as a whole. The candidate in question was very much pro-life. But it begs the bigger question, what about abortion? This has been a controversial subject for many years, on all sides of the political spectrum, and it has come up again with the rise of Willard “Mitt” Romney, who is now the Republican candidate for the office of President of the United States of America.

October 25, 1994: In Senate election debate in Massachusetts, Ted Kennedy accuses Romney of being "multiple choice" on abortion. Romney denies the charge, saying that he has supported abortion rights consistently since 1970 when his mother Lenore ran as a pro abortion rights candidate for the U.S. Senate candidate in Michigan. He linked his support for abortion rights to the death "many years ago" of a "dear, close family relative" following a botched illegal abortion. "You will not see me wavering on that," he adds.

October 29, 2002 "I will preserve and protect a woman's right to choose."
— Mitt Romney, Massachusetts Governor election debate.

December 8, 2005: Romney reverses an earlier decision on the advice of his counsel and orders all hospitals in the state to make the "morning after" pill available to rape victims, over the protests of Catholic hospitals, who argue that this goes against their religious beliefs. A Boston Herald editorial says that Romney has "executed an Olympic-caliber double flip-flop with a gold medal-performance twist-and-a-half on the issue of emergency contraception."

June 15, 2007: Addresses National Right to Life convention. Says that even though he was "always personally opposed to abortion," he decided to support "the law as it was in place" as governor of Massachusetts. "I was wrong."

August 5, 2007 "Every action I have taken as governor of Massachusetts has been pro-life."
— Mitt Romney, Republican Debate

October 8, 2011. (Value Voter Summit, Washington DC.) Mr. Romney took the opportunity to talk about some of his positions on social issues.
“Now, the foundation needed for a strong economy and a strong military is a people of strong values,” Mr. Romney said, recalling that he was blessed to be raised by happily married parents whose example “led me to marry and have children, and now to bask in the joy of 16 grandchildren.”
He promised to support the Defense of Marriage Act and to appoint Supreme Court justices who would help overturn Roe v. Wade.
“We know that marriage is more than a personally rewarding social custom — it’s also critical for the well-being of a civilization,” Mr. Romney said. “That’s why it’s so important to preserve traditional marriage, the joining together of one man and one woman.”
On abortion, he said, “Our values must encompass the life of an unborn child.”
“The law may call it a right, but no one ever called it a good, and in the quiet of conscience, people of both political parties know that more than a million abortions a year can’t be squared with the good heart of America,” he said. “And I will nominate judges who know the difference between personal opinion and law. It is long past time for the Supreme Court to return the issue of abortion back to the states by overturning Roe v. Wade.”
Mr. Romney, I respectively disagree with your side-swapping. It begs the larger question of what you would do as president of the United States of America. Will you be a man of principle, or of political gain?

This issue, abortion, is a charged issue, no doubt. I would rather that my wife, child, or grandchild never had to make this weighty decision. But I would rather that she could make it knowing it would be safe, unfettered, and made between her, her doctor, and her conscious, rather than made in Washington by men who do not know her reasons. Mr. Romney, get the politicians out of this discussion. The privilege to use, or not use birth control is a personal decision. A right to the availability of birth control should not be made by you, or any other politician. The right to have, or not have, an abortion does not need to be made by individuals not involved in the choice. This is not a decision to be made by you, by any president, or by any person aspiring to that office. It is a decision that needs to be made by the persons involved.

Your comments are welcome, as always.
RMH