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This bears repeating:  The Palm Beach Post printed this, by Tom Blackburn 10/13/08
"A lot of people who want to prevent abortions think they have to vote Republican to get action. It is hard to see why. No party that uses the distortions, evasions and dissimulation of the current administration to torture people can claim to respect human dignity. It is not pro-life. It could still be anti-abortion. Its deeds do not lend much support to that possibility, though, no matter what it says. Before 1972, abortion laws were spotty. It was "on demand" in two states. Several, including FL, allowed it in cases of rape, incest and for the health...of the mother. It was totally illegal in much of the country. Then in 1972 came Roe vs. Wade in which the Supreme Court said states couldn't interfere with abortion in the first trimester. That's the decision anti-abortion folks rally against in Washington each January.
Who wrote it? A Repub justice (Harry Blackmun) appointed by Repub Nixon. The court's majority consisted of four Repubs and three Dems. The dissenters were one Repub. (William Rehnquist) and one Dem (Byron White)...
Repub presidents stayed opposed to abortion rhetorically...(Saying an actor "phoned in" his performance implies his heart wasn't in it. Prez Reagan flew to Phoenix to speak to the National Rifle Assn. but never drove a few blocks to make a speech to the antiabortion rallies each January outside the Supreme Court building. He literally phoned it in. Being heard by phone but not seen with abortion opponents has been President Bush's style as well. By the 20th anniv. of Roe vs. Wade the Supreme Court had 8 Repubs and the original Dem dissenter (Justice White). That court upheld some state regulations but explicitly upheld abortion as a constitutional right. Abortion was legalized and kept legal by black robed Republicans, not by a cabal of San Francisco Dems. In Congress, Repubs could complain that Dems thwarted efforts to curb abortions. But then that excuse ran out. From 2003 to 2006 they held both houses of Congress. & the White House. & the Supreme Court.
You'd think something would happen after all the talk. They could have set up a law case for the current court with seven Republican appointees to use to reverse the 1972 decision.
In 2003 they passed the "partial-birth abortion" ban, which their floor managers explained would apply to only a very few abortions. The Supreme Court upheld it in 2007. That's all they accomplished on abortion while they controlled everything. It's all they tried to do.
Abortion has been very good for Republicans running for election. But for 35 years the Republicans who ran on it haven't done much to reward their supporters. People who supported President Bush for what he said about abortion now have an unnecessary war and torture on their consciences. And abortion is still legal." Tom Blackburn, Palm Beach Post

Labels: Palm Beach Post-Abortion, Repubs, Tom Blackburn