In an article in the NYT where Sen. Clinton is attempting to by more sympathetic to pro-lifers.
Mrs. Clinton, in a speech to about 1,000 abortion rights supporters at the state Capitol, firmly restated her support for the Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion nationwide, Roe v. Wade. But then she quickly shifted gears, offering warm words to opponents of abortion – particularly members of religious groups – asserting that there was "common ground" to be found after three decades of emotional and political warfare over abortion.
Mrs. Clinton is widely seen as a possible candidate for the party’s presidential nomination in 2008, and her remarks signaled that she could be recalibrating her strong identification with the abortion-rights movement as the Democratic Party engages in its own re-examination of its handling of the issue in the wake of Senator John Kerry’s loss in the 2004 presidential race.
Ms. Clinton has been a visible and very public defender of abortion rights, appearing at a huge rally in Washington last spring and denouncing what she called Republican efforts to demonize the abortion rights movement.
While she acknowledged in her address today that Americans have "deeply held differences" over abortion rights, Mrs. Clinton told the annual conference of the Family Planning Advocates of New York State, "I for one respect those who believe with all their heart and conscience that there are no circumstances under which abortion should be available."
You know where this heading. Just another restatement of the "Safe, Legal, and Rare" argument made by her husband.
Mrs. Clinton also called today for the Bush administration, religious groups, supporters and opponents of abortion rights and others to look beyond the abortion rights divide and form a broad alliance on other issues that she suggested as less incendiary: sex-education programs for teenagers that included abstinence education, emergency contraception for women who have recently had unprotected intercourse, and family planning.
If she considers the argument for more sex-education, emergency contraception, family planning as less incendiary then she is greatly mistaken. Sure she threw a bone for abstinence education, but when you create a stew containing abstinence education side by side with sexual moral relativism it is much less effective. It gets taught as "if it works for you fine" , but here are some other safe choices you know.
At one point, for instance, she drew gasps from some in the audience by mentioning that 7 percent of American women who do not use contraception account for 53 percent of all unintended pregnancies.
You could mention the 4,000 abortions a day to this same crowd and it probably wouldn’t have elicited a response. Yet tell them that 7 percent of American women don’t use contraception they gasp in surprise.
Several women in the audience reacted positively to Mrs. Clinton, whose remarks were interrupted by applause several times and ended with a standing ovation. But they also said her language and themes seemed politically calculated to deal with the abortion "freak-out" among Democrats, as one audience member put it, and reach out to independent and conservative voters in hopes of broadening her base of support for a possible 2008 presidential run.
We can expect much more of these phony conciliatory tones from presidential candidates as we approach 2008. We are totally for abortion in every circumstance and will fight to prevent any encroachment on abortion, buy hey if your pro-life we respect your deeply held opinion so vote for us!
Update: Diogenes of CWN makes an excellent point about the statistic.
Well, boys and girls, which fact is more astonishing? That 4% of American women have unintended pregnancies in the old-fashioned, pre-Copernican way of having an unintended pregnancy? Or that 47% of the unintended pregnancies occur in women who use 21st century contraceptive devices but conceive all the same?
Additionally I heard Laura Ingraham make an excellent point about what other "right" is considered as Hillary says a "tragic choice?"
8 comments
Yes, she also recently made comments about her faith … just part of that positioning strategy that Peggy Noonan predicted (as if we couldn’t all see that one coming). This comes under the category of “how stupid does she think we are?”
She is the Devil
The woman is a shrewd, dangerous politician. Now Hillary, in a bid to be the Democrat who pulls the party back from political suicide and even reclaims some of the religious right is modifying Dem talking points on abortion.
I still believe she doe…
This comes under the category of “how stupid does she think we are?”
What do you mean, “we”?
I’d guess her comments are directed at those who are “negotiably pro-life,” who are categorically opposed to abortion but can be talked into voting for a pro-abortion candidate through proportionalist appeals like Clinton’s.
I don’t know how many such people there could be who didn’t already vote for Kerry last time, but I haven’t given much thought to strategy for HRC in ’08.
Dear Jeff,
You should link to Diogenes here. His comment is an uproar
At one point, for instance, she drew gasps from some in the audience by mentioning that 7 percent of American women who do not use contraception account for 53 percent of all unintended pregnancies.
So the solution, you see, is more contraception! Yay! :rolleyes:
The only reason she would say these kinds of things to a “pro-choice” crowd is that she knows they will receive her comments just the way they would receive John Kerry’s comments on the same subject: even if they mean what they say, which they don’t, it still won’t have any affect whatever on policy or law.
If the couple is not using any form of contraception, how is it an unintended pregnancy?
If the couple is engaging in sexual intercourse, how could it be an unintended pregnancy?
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