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They succeeded in bringing the rest of left in line. Others had to get out of town. One-time abortion foes such as Jesse Jackson and Al Gore switched sides. Meehan now contributes to Human Life Review.

Today there remain some prominent liberals who are opposed to abortion, but you can count them on the fingers of one hand: In addition to Kucinich, there's former Democratic House Whip David Bonior, columnists Mark Shields and Nat Hentoff. They oppose abortion on ethical grounds. Yet they aren't very vocal about it. Presumably, they want to avoid fights with their fellow left-wingers.

In a recent column, Hentoff revealed how his stance almost cost him a lifetime achievement award from the National Press Foundation.

Kucinich, for example, doesn't mention abortion at all on his otherwise comprehensive House website. But his support is there where it counts. "In his two terms in Congress, he has quietly amassed an anti-choice voting record of Henry Hyde-like proportions," Pollitt wrote. Although her column is called "Subject to Debate," she made it clear there is no room on the left to debate this topic.

Pundits tend to view the right's pro-life politics as an albatross weighing it down. If it would only give up its obsession with the fetus, they say, the right could attract more moderate voters. Rarely do those pundits ask the inverse: Does the left's strident support of abortion turn off people who would otherwise support liberal politics? How many activists and leaders like Kucinich has that stance cost them?

Pollitt herself made that point in her article, albeit unintentionally: "That a solidly anti-choice politician could become a standard-bearer for progressivism, the subject of hagiographic profiles in The Nation and elsewhere, speaks volumes about the low priority of women's rights to the self-described economic left, forever chasing the white male working-class vote," she wrote.

Maybe so. Or maybe it speaks to how little priority feminists give to any issue other than abortion.

topics:
Abortion, Constitution, Energy