My Lent resolution: Have our Dem prez candidates discuss professional abortion care!!

Well, folks, I think it is time we raise the issue of abortion care in our presidential race.  This is an American moral imperative.  Our democracy demands that we defend the right of poor women who are pregnant and don't want to be.  No American should be forced into "state mandated" motherhood.

This is pretty simple.  All Americans deserve professional abortion care.  That means true support.  Do you think the abortion care your loved ones have received is created by the "abortion fairy"?

Providing quality abortion care is increasingly harder.  Clinics are closing.  Who in their right mind would provide abortion care in this hostile and legally INSANE system?  That any of us remain at all is a miracle.

Our democratic candidates need a "reproductive rights" platform.  It is is really almost "criminal" that our candidates have not discussed the crisis we are experiencing in America when it comes to the provision of abortion care.  And women and their families are suffering.  We have had a rise for the first time in 14 years of infant and maternal mortality.  Women are dying more often because of childbearing because access to abortion care is being denied by a very clever long term campaign by the antis in the state houses and coordinated through a strong federal campaign to make abortion unavailable rather than making it illegal.  This campaign is working remarkably well and is well documented in my previous diaries here on the The Daily Kos.

And the silence continues on the American reproductive rights front!  Truly amazing and appalling.

I think Hillary should raise the reproductive rights flag...as should Obama.  And out John McCain on abortion rights and reproductive health care NOW.  He is going to have to move to meet the Huckster anyway.

Look.  As Ann Rose says, 40 Million have "voted with their feet" by receiving abortion care since Roe.  And 40 million women who are someones mother, sister, aunt, niece or wife has needed this care.  How this necessary "care" gets there so is is AVAILABLE TO OUR FAMILIES is the issue here.  Our families depend on this folks.  It is no small thing if you or your loved one is pregnant and doesn't want to be.

Anyway, I think it is time to start discussing reproductive health care in this presidential race.  Call me foolish but I think it is important and it is a winning ticket at this point.  And it is great way to enthuse the sleeping masses of older women disgusted because neither candidate has the balls and strength to advocate for women.  That an African American and a Woman are running makes this all the more ironic.

We deserve and can do better.  It will win hearts, minds and votes AND it is the right thing to do.  Your families welfare may just depend on it and all our family members DESERVE PROFESSIONAL ABORTION CARE!

•  Tip jar!

  40 Days on the need for profesional abortion care for all American Women and their families!

  Raise the flag of democracy for all!

  Reproductive rights are human rights!

  by Readrock on Mon Feb 11, 2008 at 05:27:26 AM PDT

•  Personally I think abortion

  ...and other wedge issues should not be in the fore front this time around.

  by born socialist on Mon Feb 11, 2008 at 05:30:07 AM PDT

  •  Reproductive Rights A Wedge Issue?

    I think supporting choice is an electoral winner. Is the Occupation of Iraq a wedge issue?

    ...and other wedge issues should not be in the fore front this time around.

    by frandor55 on Mon Feb 11, 2008 at 05:35:09 AM PDT

  •  why?

    Hillary has everything to win raising the reproductive rights issue.  And Obama as an African American certainly should speak to the rights of poor American women.

    And McCain needs to be outed.  That a majority of Floridians believe is is "prochoice" is an outrage.

    by Readrock on Mon Feb 11, 2008 at 05:35:29 AM PDT

    •  well, all the issues are interconnected

      if you are going to talk about race, you have to talk about gender. And reproductive care is tightly tied to to gender issues. Not just abortion, but also birth control (male AND female), and sex ed. Yes, there is a risk bringing these out in the open could "energize" the social conservatives. But on the other hand, call the Republican candidates out on it and make 'em squirm. Don't let 'em mumble platitudes about "a culture of life" and crawl away. They need face up to the truth: how their policies are actually anti life, anti women/men, anti family, and anti American.

      by Pan Zareta on Mon Feb 11, 2008 at 12:14:41 PM PDT

      •  addenda

        How can I forget this? (Bad,Pan Zareta, BAD!) Support for women and their children, plus any future children is also an important part of reproductive rights. What have the Republicans done to support moms - other than working to mandate motherhood?

        by Pan Zareta on Mon Feb 11, 2008 at 12:17:10 PM PDT

  •  agreed

    the anti-abortion voters will be sufficiently discouraged by a McCain candidacy to sit this one out.  No need to pull them back into the process by getting in their face on their most important issue.

    by YatPundit on Mon Feb 11, 2008 at 05:57:57 AM PDT

    •  MCCAIN IS COMPLETELY ANTI CHOICE!

      Why should the antis sit it out?  McCain is anti choice but somehow has managed to make folks in Florida think he is "at least pro-choice".

      Now how weird is that?

      I think it is shameful the way we are handling reproductive justice in this presidential campaign.  Inspirational it is not.  And I don't think it is winning elections.  Look at Clinton to see an example of discounting this HUGE voting bloc.

      by Readrock on Mon Feb 11, 2008 at 06:17:08 AM PDT

      •  they think long-term...

        McCain is so distasteful to them that they would be more likely to sit the presidential election out and put together an all-out attack for 2012.  

        I don't think I need to tell you of all people how good these people are at eroding our rights over a long period of time.  Four years is nothing to them.

        by YatPundit on Mon Feb 11, 2008 at 06:21:17 AM PDT

•  The democratic party needs to support repro rts

  as it is the right thing to do AND it will win votes.

  That our candidates (one a woman and one an African American) are so silent on this issue is appalling and very IRONIC to me.

  That American women's reproductive health care is thought to be a "wedge" issue is appalling to me.

  We really need to re-examine our Democratic platform when it comes to reproductive rights.  We have missed the boat when it comes to doing the right thing for our families AND WINNING ELECTIONS!

  by Readrock on Mon Feb 11, 2008 at 05:40:42 AM PDT

  •  Not a winner

    I agree that this is an important issue. However, I do not agree with you that it is a winner for the Dems. It is a wedge issue and to date has not been a focus for the '08 campaign. It appears that the social conservatives may stay home this cycle. This is their red meat issue and I fear that focus on this will motivate the religous right to go the polls to vote against the Dem candidate. I also believe that Hillary and Obama have made the same calculation. Let sleeping dogs alone.

    by VClib on Mon Feb 11, 2008 at 05:47:07 AM PDT

    •  this is terrible

      advocating for the health of our mothers sisters, daughters and wives is a "wedge" issue?

      What on earth is the matter with you people?  Have you so lost your moral core?

      This is an American freedom issue.  And the health of our FAMILIES depends on it.  We have to wake up the sleeping 40 million women and their families who have needed professional abortion care...and that number grows everyday.  With the cutbacks in sex ed and contraception we are having more unintended pregnancies so the problem is only getting worse, not better.  Which is anothe reason to act by forming a platform.

      The least we should do is realize this is a public health issue that impacts many Americans.  We deserve a platform on reproductive health care.  And it is a winning platform for Democrats and always has been.

      Beside reproductive JUSTICE requires a response from us...and none too soon.

      by Readrock on Mon Feb 11, 2008 at 05:54:44 AM PDT

      •  I admire your passion

        I completely agree with your position, but do not agree with you regarding the impact on the '08 campaign. Hopefully a Dem president, and a Dem Congress, will take the steps to improve abortion access and care. It may, in fact, be easier to improve care in '09 if this is NOT a hot issue in this campaign.

        by VClib on Mon Feb 11, 2008 at 06:02:12 AM PDT

        •  why?

          I ask again.

          Seriously reproductive justice can be a winning issue with Americans.

          We have lost our moral compass and our balls.  Very sad.

          by Readrock on Mon Feb 11, 2008 at 06:08:49 AM PDT

    •  BS...

      Tell this to the 40,000,000 women and families who have had abortions over the past 35 years.  

      It's not perceived as a "winner" because those women and families have been marginalized by even our own side.  Candidates need to embrace this 40,000,000 voting bloc.

      Just think, the Republicans have embraced the 20,000,000 evangelical voters with no remorse.  Why can't our side do the same with twice as big a group.

      Women and families who have had professional abortion care are everywhere.  Those of you reading this right now may even be in that category.  And I dare suggest that in any group that a Democratic (or Republican, for that matter) candidate campaigns at, about 1/3 to 1/2 of the people there have experienced first hand professional abortion care.

      Get your collective heads out of the sand and legitimize those voters.

      by annrose on Mon Feb 11, 2008 at 07:05:24 AM PDT

      •  Re: annrose's comment

        It's not perceived as a "winner" because those women and families have been marginalized by even our own side.  Candidates need to embrace this 40,000,000 voting bloc.

        Great comment. I become so frustrated when I see such an important issue brushed aside by other (supposedly Progressive) Dems. How is the equality of one half of the world's population trivial? Because that's what reproductive rights come down to - women without full reproductive rights will never be truly equal.

        I think if this issue were addressed in an intelligent way, it could work.

        by natalie902 on Tue Feb 12, 2008 at 10:25:03 AM PDT

•  Yes, let us indulge in MORE Identity Politics

  it is ALWAYS such a winner for the Democratic party ...

  the Commonly accepted term for anti-choice people is PRO-LIFE;

  wouldn't it be nice if we tried to convince single issue anti-choice voters that the Democratic party is about something more than "killing innocent babies" to use their own vernacular -- a lot of these single issue voters would easily be Democratic voters if we did something other than always playing defense on an identity politics arena ...

  by josephk on Mon Feb 11, 2008 at 06:06:35 AM PDT

  •  this is just nuts

    40 million American families have needed professional abortion care.

    Why have we allowed the far right to high jack reproductive justice?

    by Readrock on Mon Feb 11, 2008 at 06:10:18 AM PDT

•  Agree - not just legal, but ACCESSIBLE!

  I agree that reproductive rights need to be addressed by our candidates. Access is a really big problem. Even though abortion is technically legal right now, there are multiple, significant barriers to abortion access, such as: many legal restrictions (parental consent, waiting  periods, etc.), cost, distance (in many states, a majority of women are hundreds of miles from the nearest clinic), etc.

  I really disagree (and am very disappointed) when I hear other Dems moan and groan about this issue, and call it a "third rail" or "single issue voting", etc.

  Reproductive rights are much more important than they may seem to some. They encompass not only a person's physical rights (over one's own self), but also:
  -Economic rights
  -Health care rights (physical and mental)
  -Privacy rights
  -Constitutional issues (definition of personhood, balancing of rights, etc.)

  Women shouldn't be the only ones that care about this set of issues. Although obviously it has the most severe impact on women, it also affects many men and children. This presidential election is extremely vital, as a Republican in the White House will very likely mean the overturning of Roe v. Wade. We must ensure that our candidates support a comprehensive, progressive platform that includes improved abortion access, available and affordable contraception, scientifically accurate sex education in public schools, etc.

  by natalie902 on Tue Feb 12, 2008 at 10:19:57 AM PDT