Kerry on abortion

by Cliopatria

For those who missed it, John Kerry last week stated,"I oppose abortion, personally. I don't like abortion. I believe life begins at conception."

In today's Boston Globe, columnist Eileen McNamara wonders, not unreasonably, how someone with such a view could have had, for the last 20 years, a strongly pro-choice voting record. McNamara notes that she had assumed that, on this issue, Kerry dissented from the Church's position that life began at conception.

William Saletan has what I consider the best book on the politics of abortion (Bearing Right); he argues that conservatives have largely won the war over abortion rights, at least politically. Comments such as Kerry's reinforce the point.

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Derek Charles Catsam - 7/9/2004

Or, and forgive the crassness, but if I read Richard's post correctly, this is the only logical conclusion and addition to Ralph's last comment: Those pangs of conscience will also come (ahem) every time I masturbate or even have sex that does not result in conception, which for the time being I hope is every time (and often).
dc

Jonathan Dresner - 7/9/2004

Tom Paxton's song "Don't Slay That Potato" includes the imortal lines: "Potatoes are ugly, Potatoes are plain, we're wrinkled and bumpy to boot. But gimme a break here, do you mean to say you'll eat us because we're not cute?"

Seriously, though: not all killing is murder. That's a distinction that gets lost a lot in this discussion. It is entirely possible to believe that the fetus is "a life" and still support the right to abortion under certain circumstances.

Ralph E. Luker - 7/8/2004

Richard, If you insist on putting things this way, I will have pangs of conscience the next time I eat my spinach or weed my garden.

Richard Henry Morgan - 7/8/2004

I should hace said "Life PRECEDES conception". Having more than my quota of brain farts lately.

Richard Henry Morgan - 7/8/2004

Hell, I believe that life PRECEDES abortion -- both the sperm and the egg are living. I suspect that human personhood starts somewhere around the end of the first trimester -- you have differentiated tissue and organs that start to fulfill a function for a separate entity, rather than just being cells drawing on the mother's blood for nutrition, and you have the first appearance of brain waves. Or so I'm told.

That Kerry subscribes to such a vague formulation as "life begins at conception" hardly entails that he thinks early abortion is murder. Think about it. When was the last time you heard someone say "I don't like murder"?

Robert KC Johnson - 7/8/2004

I'm pro-choice. One reason that I am is that I don't believe life begins at conception.

If, however, you state unequivocally that life begins at conception, that means abortion is murder. Politicians "impose" their beliefs on others all the time--that's what voting in Congress is. Does this mean that Kerry will also vote in favor of the death penalty, because the Church believes that the death penalty is wrong?

Derek Charles Catsam - 7/8/2004

I'm not sure where the inconsistency is either. One can dislike porn, or Jennifer Lopez movies, or country music, can even find them morally problematic, without calling for them to be banned. One can think we should have fewer abortions in an ideal world but still be pro choice. One can loathe war yet be strong on national defense. Not only do I not see inconsistency, I see a refreshing willingness to move away from solipsism and to say, "you know what, the personal isn't always political." Would that we see more, and not less, of this sort of approach from public servants.
dc

Jonathan Dresner - 7/8/2004

As I noted at Thomas Reeves' blog recently, one of the starkest divides between Republicans and Democrats is between those (mostly Republicans) who would impose their theology/ideology on the rest of the population and those (mostly Democrats) who believe that we should have the maximum freedom consistent with order and safety and what we do with it is up to our individual consciences. Obviously this is a simplification, but it is entirely consistent with Kerry's position: abortion is not a good thing, but since his concerns about it are theological not medical or political, he will not impose that belief on the public.

I'm not sure about Saletan's argument, but the long-term perspective and firm faith of anti-abortion activists does make me think that they've got a good chance, in the long run.