This whole jeremiad re abortion is irrelevant since McCain and Bush are virtually identical on the issue, so I hate to even encourage this fanatical imbroglio, but, see:
<< Golding is a supporter of abortion rights, a position that is at odds with that of McCain. When reporters raised the issue at a news conference, MCain said he was "proud of my pro-life position" but added that Californians should also know he is "leading a dialogue" aimed at securing agreement between opposing sides in the abortion controversy on measures to ease adoption, improve foster care and end certain types of late-term abortion.>>
I get the sense McCain is (1) not a fanatic but rather a sane and humane moderate with a decent sense of the ambiguities in life, a "uniter not a divider", and (2) that he can LEAD on the subject.
As for myself, I think a crucial distinction is lost in this whole debate, that has to do with the place of private moral judgement in the political and judicial life of the nation:
It is one thing to think abortion in all cases is wrong. That is, essentially, a justifiable, sincere religious judgement about a fiendishly difficult (in some cases--see below) moral situation. I respect that entirely. It is quite another thing to insist that the secular STATE criminalize ALL abortions and FORCE that judgement upon its citizens. (Why do all these died-in-the-wool libertarians take leave of their senses when it comes to this liberty issue?) I have in mind this particular scenario:
I do not want to live in a United States of America in which the STATE can FORCE a woman who has been forcibly raped to carry that pregnancy to term. That should not ever happen in the United States of America. |
