Abortion as political theater

[TitanTiger 20,511]

 

Quote

Yesterday the Senate Failed to Pass a Ban on Late Term Abortions…
Mark Shea

…the sort of abortions where nobody has any doubt that the nervous system of the child being ripped limb from limb feels every agonizing pain inflicted on him or her.

Go here and you can see the Democrat Senators Heitkamp and Schumer high fiving each other over another successful sabotage of Democrat hopes to win the midterms.

It is also worth noting that three Democrats–Casey, Manchin and Donnelly–voted for it and a couple of GOP Senators opposed it. But the blockage falls squarely with the Dems, several of whom are vulnerable this November:

“Vulnerable Democrats up for re-election this year like Sens. Claire McCaskill, Sherrod Brown, and Heidi Heitkamp, ought to vote in line with their constituents and support this compassionate bill,” Marjorie Dannenfelser, who is president of the anti-abortion advocacy organization Susan B. Anthony List said Monday morning. “Voting to keep the brutality of late-term abortion legal isn’t just morally abhorrent, it defies national consensus and is a major political liability.”

Despite the push, Heitkamp, Brown and McCaskill all voted against the bill.

Anti-abortion advocacy groups and Republicans were quick to highlight the votes Monday night.

“Senate Democrats, including Senators McCaskill, Tester, and Heitkamp, who are on the ballot in 2018, voted against this bill to protect unborn children,” said Faith & Freedom Coalition Executive Director Tim Head. Montana Sen. Jon Tester also voted against the bill and is up for re-election in a state Trump won.

This was, of course, the real purpose of this legislation.  It was political theatre by a party that has no more intention of doing anything about abortion than the Dems do, but which knows how to use phony gestures like this in order to make Dems Do the Stupid and alienate their constituents.  How do I know it was political theatre?  Because the same party that feigned interest in late term abortion in order to get the Dems to Do the Stupid re-funded Planned Parenthood five times last year.

The reality is that Americans have no idea what they think here and both parties know that. 20% of Americans want abortion on demand without apology.  20% want it outlawed. 60% want no change to our abortion laws and also favor the late term abortion ban because they have no idea what they think.  Consequently, 80% of Americans both favor this legislation and oppose it.  Both parties exploit that, not for the sake of the unborn, but for the sake of stampeding votes every election.  But the most votes consistently go to those who, you know, say that it’s a bad thing to torture unborn children to death by dismemberment (even though they could not care less about it).  Such is the acute moral conscience of America in the early third millennium.

The bishops provide obvious moral clarity here:

January 29, 2018

WASHINGTON—Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Pro-Life Activities called the Senate’s failure to pass the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act “appalling”. The bill proposes to ban abortions starting at 20 weeks after fertilization.

“The U.S. Senate’s failure to adopt the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, prohibiting abortions at 20 weeks post-fertilization, is appalling. Abortions performed in the second half of pregnancy usually involve brutally dismembering a defenseless unborn child, while also posing serious dangers to his or her mother. The Senate’s rejection of this common-sense legislation is radically out of step with most Americans. Opinion polls consistently show that a strong majority of the public opposes late-term abortions—including those who self-identify as ‘pro-choice’. Furthermore, the United States is currently one of only seven countries that allows abortions beyond 20-weeks. The other six are North Korea, China, Vietnam, Singapore, Canada and the Netherlands. The Senate must rethink its extreme stance on late-term abortions. I call upon the public to tell the Senate that this vote is absolutely unacceptable.”

The Dems, if they had any brains at all, would support this legislation–would lead the charge to pass it–and instantly take the wind from GOP sails.  But in their folly, they hand a sword to the GOP that may well cost them the midterms.

Meanwhile, the Party of Trump has an easy fake “victory of conscience” as it continues to use the unborn as human shields for every other assault on the dignity of human life it passionately pursues.

Sauron and Saruman are not enemies, but allies.

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/markshea/2018/01/yesterday-senate-failed-pass-ban-late-term-abortions.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook

Also telling if you doubt that the GOP uses this more as an act in a political play than a serious matter - they had the majority of the votes, just not enough to avoid a filibuster and unlike other situations where they have threatened to change Senate rules to break a filibuster, they never even proposed such a thing here.  The issue ultimately isn't of major importance to them to actually pass.  It's just important to them as a weapon to use in the midterms in political ads.  Indeed, they are using unborn babies as "human shields" for other things on their agenda that matter more to them.

A final note, Doug Jones showed that he really doesn't intend to win again in 2020 when the Alabama GOP isn't stuck with an albatross like Roy Moore by voting against the measure.  The Alabama Democratic Party is apparently content with getting a handful of votes against Trump in the Senate for the next two years and nothing more.  Very forward thinking.

[Strychnine 1,804]

22 hours ago, TitanTiger said:

Also telling if you doubt that the GOP uses this more as an act in a political play than a serious matter - they had the majority of the votes, just not enough to avoid a filibuster and unlike other situations where they have threatened to change Senate rules to break a filibuster, they never even proposed such a thing here.  The issue ultimately isn't of major importance to them to actually pass.  It's just important to them as a weapon to use in the midterms in political ads.  Indeed, they are using unborn babies as "human shields" for other things on their agenda that matter more to them.

A final note, Doug Jones showed that he really doesn't intend to win again in 2020 when the Alabama GOP isn't stuck with an albatross like Roy Moore by voting against the measure.  The Alabama Democratic Party is apparently content with getting a handful of votes against Trump in the Senate for the next two years and nothing more.  Very forward thinking.

 

I have never considered abortion to be anything more than political theater to most politicians.  Republicans generally favor pro-life positions, and Democrats generally favor pro-choice positions.  At this point, I think candidates from both parties only issue positions on the issue to maximize however many single-issue voters they can get, and that is the extent of its importance to most of them.  There does not appear to be genuine interest from Republicans to aggressively push a pro-life agenda, and that makes sense strategically.  Ultimately, pro-life success would undermine its value as a rallying issue.

Personally, I have always viewed abortion as a poor issue to base voting decisions on.  I know there are plenty (on both sides) that feel very passionately about the issue, but the observed political results throughout even my lifetime (38) make it obvious that neither party are very concerned with seriously pursuing it.  Meanwhile, all the data I have seen over the years indicates that abortion itself has been in a steady decline.  From that, I conclude that outside of politics, a steady impact and progress is being made by education and birth control efforts.  Abortion will likely end up becoming basically irrelevant without major legislative intervention.

Something I will never forget is a series of local interviews that I saw in the months and weeks prior to the 2000 presidential election.  A reporter hit the streets in Albany, GA asking random people who they were supporting, and why.  There were enough responses to the effect of "whoever is for saving babies" that it made a lasting impression.  While it was obviously a small sample size, a significant portion of it was unaware of either candidates' position on the issue, but the issue was important enough that it was deciding their vote on our country's highest office.

[Proud Tiger 4,261]

I am Pro Choice but I believe that choice should be made before conception.