Today my son had a play date with another three-year-old from his pre-school class, so I had a few hours to chat with her mother, one of those
Starbucks Republicans we hear about nowadays.
She's in her early 40s, an upper middle class, pro-environment Bush voter who can't stand him now (claims she voted for him very reluctantly the second time because she "just didn't like Kerry"). She lives in the suburbs, is worried about environmental pollution, high gas prices, the deficit, hates the war, etc.
I asked her today whether she was pro-choice, and she said, "I lean pro-life." But talking with her further about the issue made me wonder how anti-abortion people like her really are.
Normally I don't ask people I know casually what they think about abortion rights. I brought it up today because there will be a couple of young professionals events for Planned Parenthood of Greater Iowa next month (fundraisers for a new clinic they are building), and I would invite her to them if I knew she were pro-choice.
So, this woman started by saying she leans pro-life. But here's what I learned about her views over the next ten to twenty minutes:
1. She is not for banning "partial birth abortions" (I know, this is a fake Republican-invented term--it's the term she used, though), because a friend of hers found out at 22 weeks gestation that her baby had terrible abnormalities and wouldn't be able to live more than a week, if that, outside the womb. This friend had a "partial birth abortion," and the woman I spoke with would never condemn any woman for doing that. Nor does she think any woman should have to risk her own health to continue a pregnancy, particularly if there is an abnormality with the baby.
2. She has no problem with the morning-after pill or any other form of birth control. In fact, she has used the morning-after pill herself twice.
3. Regarding RU-486, the drug used for medical (as opposed to surgical) abortions in early pregnancy, she said, "Who could be against that?" She added that it--referring to the fetus--is just a tiny little speck at that point. So obviously she does not believe that life begins at conception.
4. Reflecting on what she would do if her own daughter became pregnant as a teenager, she thought that the right thing would be to "make" her daughter "assume responsibility" by carrying the baby to term and either raising it or giving it up for adoption. However, she admitted that she wasn't sure she would follow through on those beliefs--she might feel it was better for her own daughter to have an abortion.
5. Several times she mentioned that she doesn't like the women who "use abortion as birth control," and that's what pushes her toward a pro-life position. However, she admitted that she had had unprotected sex several times as a young woman and didn't know what she would have done if she had gotten pregnant at that time in her life.
6. She has a real problem with the women who just decide in the fifth month of pregnancy to get an abortion for no good reason. I pointed out that Planned Parenthood of Greater Iowa clinics don't offer abortion services beyond 17 weeks (that is, four months) gestation. The number of abortions performed in the fifth month or later is a miniscule percentage of the total.
7. She mentioned that her own mother is very pro-choice because she remembers women who died or were seriously injured by back-alley abortions. Her mother says, "We can't go back to that," and she kind of agrees with that.
What can we say about this pro-life leaning suburban Republican woman?
She isn't really against abortion. She feels that she or her friends or her family members should have that option available. However, she's against the wrong kind of people (women not of her class or education) getting abortions for the wrong reasons (they were too irresponsible to use birth control).
At the same time, she would oppose the obvious consequences of banning abortions: back-alley abortions, women being forced to continue pregnancies in unfortunate situations.
Polls show that anti-abortion forces are in the minority. I believe the number of "pro-lifers" who are genuinely oppose abortion in most circumstances is even smaller than polls suggest. I'd wager that a sizable minority of self-described "pro-lifers" are like the woman I talked with today. If lawmakers in their own state moved ahead on the anti-abortion agenda as has happened in South Dakota, these women would quickly revise their opinions.
Whether it would change her tendency to vote Republican I don't know. But I do believe that it makes no sense for Democrats to moderate their stands on abortion in search of swing voters. The pro-choice position is absolutely more in step with the majority in this country.
Our challenge will be to move these suburban Republicans from the view that choices are good for women like themselves to the view that all women deserve to have choices regarding their reproductive health care.
