Top Democrats seek to avert abortion clashes
WASHINGTON -- Eager to avoid a resumption of the culture wars, the new Democratic leaders are trying to tiptoe around the abortion issue by promoting legislation to encourage birth control and assist women who decide to proceed with unwanted pregnancies.
Democrats acknowledge that they alienated many social conservatives and churchgoing voters during years of combat with Republicans over the explosive issue of reproductive rights, and they want to change their emphasis to woo some of those voters back into the fold.
On the opening day of the 110th Congress on Jan. 4, for instance, Senate majority leader Harry M. Reid, Democrat of Nevada, an abortion foe, introduced a bill to increase funding for family planning and to improve access to emergency contraception.
The measure has been backed by Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, a champion of abortion rights, and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, a leading Democratic presidential prospect.
These and other initiatives are a far cry from previous Democratic efforts that drew strong conservative opposition, including funding for abortions for women in the military serving overseas and UN family-planning programs in Third World countries.
"There are few more divisive issues in America today than abortion, but there is an opportunity to find common ground if we are willing to join together and seize it," Reid said recently. "The rate of unintended pregnancies is unacceptably high." Legislation such as his, he added, "can reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and the resulting abortions in America today."
Antiabortion activists will hold their annual March for Life today in Washington, marking the 34th anniversary of the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision on Jan. 22, 1973, which legalized abortion nationwide. But unlike past years, opponents of the decision are now on the defensive because of the Democratic takeover of Congress.
During the past decade of Republican rule, Congress became a battleground for opposing forces in the abortion debate. Nearly 150 bills and amendments have been offered with the aim of restricting the procedure.
Democrats and Republicans who are abortion rights activists blocked most of those measures, but they alienated a vital group of voters -- religious moderates who support, in principle, the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide but who are morally squeamish about terminating pregnancies.
Now Democrats are seeking to reach these "abortion grays" through their own legislative proposals, all focused on preventing unwanted pregnancies. The initiatives, including several in development for more than a year, represent an attempt to broaden the discussion beyond the traditional framework of whether abortion should be legal.
By recasting their approach, Democrats hope to appeal to "grays" in suburban areas and Midwestern towns who have voted Republican in recent elections.
"We believe deeply that we can do better than we're doing in our country when it comes to preventing unintended pregnancies and helping to support mothers and children," Clinton said in announcing her support for Reid's initiative.
In the House, Representatives Tim Ryan of Ohio, a Democrat who opposes abortion, and Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, a member of the Democratic leadership who supports abortion rights, are backing measures to make contraception easier to obtain, while providing aid to women who proceed with unintended pregnancies.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, helped smooth the path for the Ryan-DeLauro bill, and Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, the fourth-ranking House Democrat, is a cosponsor. "This is something that Democrats are really into," Emanuel said.
At least four similar bills are circulating. Antiabortion Democrats reluctant to promote contraception use are backing a more limited effort to help pregnant women and single mothers. 