Abortion. We simply cannot have a presidential election without debating it. But as candidates gear up for the 2008 election, it’s an issue that promises to play itself out on center stage as two likely contenders profess a change of heart on the issue.
The question: Should we let them alter their positions?
My interest in this area is personal. I was once a pro-choice activist and now I am pro-life mother with another baby on the way. But before you praise my awakening – or condemn me as a conservative of convenient circumstance – let me explain.
I didn’t have a religious epiphany or become a different person upon the birth of my first daughter. My mind was ultimately changed by a friend who helped me realize that my libertarian instincts didn’t insist that I hold a pro-choice stance.
In other words, logic led me to see the light. Our individual rights extend only as so far as to not infringe on the rights others, including our own children. Before, I chose not to consider whether a fetus was alive, instead focusing on the adverse consequences of government forcing people to keep children they were not yet ready to parent. Today, I see the unborn as the most innocent class of individuals.
With this realization, I’ve come to see that we face an inconvenient truth 10 times more inconvenient than global warming. We struggle with its adverse social and economic consequences. But I can no longer ignore it.
Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson, two top contenders for the GOP presidential nomination, get it. [Disclosure: I worked in Thompson’s Senate press office.] But it hasn’t been easy for them. Thompson, long ambiguous on the issue, professed a change of heart after a series of circumstances, including the death of his adult daughter and the birth of another daughter late in his life.
It appears that Romney changed his position after being exposed to evolving science relating to human development. Once pro-choice, he publicly revealed that his sister-in- law died from an illegal abortion. As recently as his 2002 Massachusetts gubernatorial campaign, he was endorsed by Republicans for Choice.
Five years later, however, Romney confessed a changed position, telling CNN’s Larry King that his views had progressed after learning more about stem cell research and the chain of human development.
We should applaud Thompson and Romney. Changing views about abortion means taking on powerful interests in both parties. In today’s world, however, it doesn’t mean a political death sentence. Contemporary GOP stalwarts, including the once pro- choice Ronald Reagan, navigated the process effectively.
While social conservatives appear likely to accept the authenticity of Romney’s transformation, Thompson is having a tougher time, especially after recent allegations have surfaced that he once lobbied for a pro-abortion organization (a charge he now denies). Time will tell how accepting voters will be.
It’s unlikely that I’ll ever become a zealot to end abortion. Maybe the other side’s arguments are too fresh in my mind. I’m not naïve enough to believe that a government ban would stop desperate women from seeking to end their pregnancies. I’ve looked into the eyes of too many friends facing the anguish that comes with unplanned pregnancies.
U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., earlier this year put it this way: “I have always believed that our goal was not only to change laws, but to change minds – and we have changed many minds” on abortion.
My libertarian instincts forced me to realize that I can’t support abortion. They also won’t let me forget that we can’t expect to end demand for abortion without first creating adequate market alternatives for those in crisis.
As I write this, I feel my unborn daughter kicking inside of me. She deserves to be treated with respect, even at this early stage. I want an empathetic pro-life president who shares these values. Whether he’s always shared them is none of my concern.
Jessica Peck Corry (Jessica@i2i.org) is a policy analyst with the Independence Institute in Golden. She is a member of the Colorado Voices panel.
