The American Spectator : Win Politically, Lose Culturally

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Win Politically, Lose Culturally

By David N. Bass on 9.3.09 @ 6:07AM

Despite a sympathetic administration, abortion advocates are making no headway. How can that be?

Abortion advocates have got to be scratching their heads.

For the first time in decades, they have staunch allies in the top echelons of government and the left-wing majorities needed to advance their agenda. No legislative roadblocks impede their way -- not a president's veto pen, not hostile committee chairs, not unfriendly leadership in the House and Senate.

They also have a president who promised to make the Freedom of Choice Act, a bill that would overturn all state-level abortion restrictions, his first priority as the nation's chief executive. More importantly, with Obama the pro-abortion movement has the luxury of claiming the implicit support of the American people, 70 million of whom voted for him last year.

Yet during the first eight months of his administration, abortion has been far down the president's list of priorities. Even worse for abortion advocates, the issue is trending away from them even as they've gained more power.

A Washington Post story, titled "Abortion Stigma Affects Doctors' Training And Choices," that ran Tuesday underscores the growing tension. The Post story, which devotes ample ink to the abortion lobby and a few paragraphs to the other side, does its best to lament the latest setback for pro-abortion forces -- a dearth of up-and-coming doctors willing to conduct the procedure.

The kicker, of course, plays off the murder of George Tiller, one of only a few abortionists willing to end unborn human life in the third trimester. The Left hoped that Tiller's death three months ago would galvanize Americans against pro-lifers; instead, most recognized that a movement built on the sanctity of human life has no affinity for a cold-blooded killer.

More than focus on Tiller's murder, however, the Post story tells the plight of medical school students struggling with whether to enter the tainted abortion industry, and the angst of aging abortionists who don't see many up-and-coming med students to take their place.

"We need young doctors and we need them badly," the president of one pro-abortion group told the Post. "The situation is pretty grave, pretty dire."

Although doubtless unintentional, one byproduct of the Post's thinly veiled call for more abortionists is the reality that pro-lifers have made gains in the court of public opinion. Legislative victories, particularly at the federal level, have been slow in coming. But there are indications of a cultural shift away from the abortion ethic and toward greater respect for unborn life.

Compared with the Baby Boom generation, today's young people view abortion radicalism as far less chic. In fact, many are more inclined to view the pro-life cause as trendy. One reason might be that abortion is now the status quo, while the pro-life movement is counter-cultural. "Fight the Power" all over again.

Beyond the generational gap, abortion rates themselves have steadily declined since the early 1980s, and the downward spiral shows no signs of letting up. In January 2008, Planned Parenthood's research arm, the Alan Guttmacher Institute, reported that the abortion rate had reached its lowest level since 1974, a year after the Supreme Court legalized abortion on demand.

Although 53 percent of voters marked their ballots for Barack Obama last year, public support for abortion continues to erode. A Gallup poll in May reported that a majority of Americans, for the first time since Gallup began asking the question in 1995, identify as "pro-life" rather than "pro-choice."

Such evidence points to the conclusion that even though pro-lifers have borne election defeats during the last two cycles, culturally and socially the trend is in their favor. For years, many pro-lifers have devoted their energy to non-political ends, such as non-profit pregnancy counseling centers that educate women about abortion alternatives. Those efforts are now bearing fruit.

On the other side, try as they might, the abortion industry has been unable to brand abortion procedures as the equivalent of getting your appendix or tonsils removed. In reality, Planned Parenthood's campaign to "normalize" abortion (through products such as "I Had an Abortion" t-shirts and "Choice on Earth" Christmas cards) has backfired. Most Americans instinctively recognize that abortion is a moral evil, even if they mistakenly view it as a necessary moral evil.

What must be frustrating for the abortion lobby is that 2009 should be the year of unequaled triumphs, but it's turning into the year of unequaled setbacks. The president, so far, hasn't fulfilled his many campaign pledges on the issue; public sentiment is shifting; and support for abortion among the young isn't the default position it used to be.

In the age of hope and change, it wasn't supposed to happen this way.

topics:
Abortion, Pro-Life Doctors

About the Author

David N. Bass is a journalist who writes from the Old North State. Follow him on Twitter.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (18) | Leave a comment

Appleby| 9.3.09 @ 7:03AM

*Backlash* is the operative word. Americans are in Backlash Mode and not inclined to support ANY initiative of the hippie scum who thought that once their puppet was in charge, all their utopian dreams would come true.

That abortion-as-dentistry happens to be one of those fever dreams is just good for our side.

Joseph Bell| 9.3.09 @ 8:06AM

It is hard to stay trendy when your stated position removes those who practice it from the gene pool as effectively as winning a Darwin Award.

Worse still, abortion is not amusing like the Darwin Awards.

Support for women facing a problem pregnancy, and contempt for abortion business promoters is having an effect.

Tim| 9.3.09 @ 8:57AM

We can fully expect that any government health scheme will require any Doctor to provide abortions or lose his or her license. It may not be in the first draft, but it will be inevitable.

Alan Brooks| 9.3.09 @ 9:13AM

let's point out to the naifs that abortion is in no way moral ("ethical") but only coldly, Darwinisticly expedient.

Robert Speirs| 9.3.09 @ 9:36AM

It should be made clear that Darwin was definitely not in favor of abortion or contraception. He was a eugenicist, who thought the race of Man could only be improved by the struggle for life. He also did not favor medical care for the poor, or welfare or preferential treatment for the "underprivileged". Exactly the opposite. But none of the modern-day liberals have read him or will admit to what he said.

Michelle| 9.3.09 @ 9:50AM

Twenty-thirty years ago- ultrasounds, 'Babycenter.com' and cable health shows were either not available or did not have good clear pictures of a BABY in the womb.

Now, expectant moms can sign up for weekly/daily emails that will show you a picture of the growth of your BABY for every day of your pregnancy.

When the heart, fingers and eyes are so easily seen and identifiable in the mere first weeks of pregnancy, by ultrasound at the doctors office, and for those who are not pregnant, in the unbelievable film shots on Discovery Health shows I have seen, it is not difficult for anyone to think of an abortion as outright murder.

The internet, Discovery Health channel and its like, and medical advances have been objectively wonderful things in defeating this cause, this atrocious practice....

Michelle H.
Columbus, OH

Dad of Six| 9.3.09 @ 11:37AM

The outreach of the Pro Life movement to the young, the growth of Crisis Pregnancy Centers (which now outnumber abortion mills), the ministry to post abortive women, and the increase of prayerful sidewalk counseling are having a truly positive effect nationwide.

Tony in Central PA| 9.3.09 @ 12:37PM

Great article. Maybe there's hope for our society yet.
I recall hearing that in the days and weeks after 9/11, Planned Parenthood in the NYC area saw its business drop as it never had before. Maybe that says something about our need to be jolted into reality at times.

DTC IN AZ| 9.3.09 @ 1:59PM

I'm glad to see the Planned Parenhood is suffering the decrease in the murder of the helpless little human beings. They do not have the voice to speak for themselves.
When there are numbers of American people go oversea to adopt kids, there are also the mothers here killing their children when they still are in their own wombs.
I'm glad the American people finally see what we have been done to our children and to the nation's moral as a whole.

gregorbo| 9.3.09 @ 5:22PM

There may be another explanation for the shift--demographics.

Simply put, since Roe v. Wade, the sheer number of births to those inclined to be pro-life have outnumbered births to those inclined to pro-choice--perhaps by 2-1 (?). I've seen an article that crunched the numbers and found that pro-aborts were aborting themselves out of existence.

So it's not surprising that fewer med students are inclined to join the abortion industry--or that the birth-outside-of-marriage numbers have been largely unaffected by sex-education programs and the like.

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Wilfred| 9.3.09 @ 11:32PM

So abortionists are wondering where the next generation of "doctors" that was supposed to replace them is?

They should check the garbage cans behind their clinics.

creig| 9.4.09 @ 3:25AM

I'm glad the American people finally see what we have been done to our children and to the nation's moral as a whole.
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