It hurts my heart to hear the phrase "I'm personally anti-abortion" always followed by some version of "but I can't impose my views on others" (I know that's not precisely what Bobert said -- I'm just taking the occasion. Bobert's posts are the record of a decent and thinking person). I'm a card-carrying member of the Democratic Party, the ACLU and Amnesty International (actually, while they don't precisely have membership, they do issue cards. Strange). But the right to life is a human rights issue, and how in hell the killing of inconvenient people came to be the "progressive" position is a mystery to me. Euthanasia, assisted suicide, abortion, have otherwise decent people talking like Nazis about whose life is worth living, and thinking like republicans about maximizing the individual's economic options. I work at a university, and there the conventional wisdom does not acknowledge that there's a legitimate debate. But I can't take a "who are we to judge?" attitude anymore than I believe I could have done so with regard to slavery -- the last time this country was so polarized.

It's very, very unlikely that any adult will change her/his mind about abortion, and I'm not trying. But I am suggesting that the natural home of pro-choice is the Republican party (where maybe 30% are actively pro-choice, and a bunch more ride the fence, allowing the party to win single-issue voters by talking the talk, and hang onto the rest by consistently refusing to actually do anything). For Republicans, "pro-life" is just code for the traditional repression of women, as evidenced by any number of pro-death policies they pursue vigorously. We as a country (mostly pro-life) put up with it, we tell ourselves, because we hsitate to impose our view on others (SINCE WHEN?), but really because we want that option when we ourselves get into a tight spot.