So tonight I'm on my way to pick up some Friday night Chinese carry-out when I hear Barack opine on NPR that he's pro-choice but that this is not a trivial issue (who said it was?) and that all sides must be heard from.
Must we hear from the side that says there must be parental notification, even when the child in question has no competent parent? Or when the child has a well-founded fear of being harmed or killed if the parent discovers her condition?
Must we hear from the side that says D & X must never be performed, even to extract a dead fetus or a fetus so grossly genetically damaged that it can never survive outside the uterus, at any stage of development?
Must we hear from the side that will not allow a vaccine to be administered that prevents cervical cancer 100% of the time because if people can be sexually active without risk they will become promiscuous?
My experience of the anti-choice right is that they do not want to find middle ground. They do not want to promote the health and well-being of fetuses. They want power. They want power over people's sexuality, over their bodies. They want to degrade the social and legal status of women.
Just how much health and life would Barack ask women to give up? How much control over their bodies? How much autonomy? How much personhood? How much of the rights of a citizen?
Remember, too: Barack voted to confirm Alito. On another critical issue, Barack did not support Feingold's initiative to censure Bush for breaking the law, flouting the will of Congress and trashing the 4th Amendment.
Which side is Barack on?