Say it ain't so, Howard
Why do Democratic leaders think that abandoning choice or "changing their rhetoric" will bring more people to the party? We are never going to convince the rabid fundies to agree that abortion should be legal even in cases of rape or incest, so what is the point in talking about it differently? Unless talking about it differently is code for talking about the lack of sex education and daycare, the war on contraception and public education, and the Republican policies that have led to an economic nightmare for families raising children, I'm not interested. Because it sounds to me like talking about it differently means stigmatizing women who have had abortions and making it harder for women to get abortions in the future. All a speech like this does is slide the country further to the right:

LOS ANGELES – Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean told California Democrats last night the party needs to change its rhetoric on abortion to project a more mainstream image.

"I think we need to talk about abortion differently," Dean said. "Republicans have painted us into a corner where they have forced us to defend abortion. I don't know anybody who's for abortion." [snip]

On abortion, Dean stressed he was not advocating that a party dominated by supporters of abortion rights change its views.

"We can make common ground with folks," he said. "The issue we need to debate is not whether abortion is a good thing. The issue we need to debate is whether a woman gets to make up her own mind about her health care or whether Tom DeLay gets to make up her mind."

After one meeting, Dean, surrounded by a phalanx of aides, blew past a group of reporters waiting in the hallway. Dean's stand did not sit well with Marcia Patt of Oceanside, who was waiting outside a door with a sign reading, "Don't abandon choice."

Patt, an activist in the North County Coalition for Peace and Justice, was angered by an article in USA Today in which Dean said "pro-life Democrats" should be encouraged to run for office.

"That's not the Democratic Party anymore," she said. "That's the party of the far right and that's the direction we're moving in when everybody starts talking about abandoning choice for women in the Democratic Party."

Marcia Patt hits the nail on the head. Keep abortion legal, stay out of my bedroom, and out of my uterus. That goes for Howard Dean as much as it goes for Rick Santorum. This is not an issue on which I am willing to compromise. Ever.

(via watertiger)
- posted by TJ @ 6:06 PM