The Fog of the Abortion War

[Joanne98]

This past election cycle, the latest version of the urban legend that the Religious Right is dead and that the culture wars are over, or nearly so -- was that the tea party movement was all about secular concern for smaller government and lower taxes. The narrative had some truth to it in that the themes regarding taxes and the size of government were certainly emphasized -- but that was never all there was to it. Nevertheless, the shallow version of the narrative largely continued through the election period and is carried forward by some to this day. The media and some in the political classes may (unsurprisingly) be too heavily invested in the spin of the false narrative to ever get themselves unspun. But this, and historical revisionism about recent events, are contributing to the gathering fog around the actual dynamics of the politics of abortion.


The tea party candidates, nearly all Religious Right social conservatives, beat more established and establishment type pols all over the country. For the Senate alone, Rand Paul, Joe Miller, Sharon Angle, Ken Buck and Christine O'Donnell were among the most militantly antiabortion candidates for major office in history. Some Religious Right candidates downplayed their religious rightyness and rode the anti-tax, small government Tea Party narrative into many electoral successes. But the post election, Beltway Insider version of the narrative insists that religion had little to nothing to do with the election results.
Meteor Blades, writing at Daily Kos offers a set of facts that does not seek to measure the religiosity of the candidates, but illuminates the election results in practical terms. He wrote:

Without having tallied close races, NARAL's BlogforChoice put the anti-choice forces as of Nov. 3 clearly in control of the House, with 248 Representatives in the anti-choice column and 33 with a mixed record. In the Senate the lines are more closely drawn, with 46 anti-choice, 40 pro-choice and 14 mixed-choice Senators. In both houses together, that's a 60-vote gain for the anti-choice forces.
If abortion is the premier issue of the culture wars, then clearly the antiabortion movement gained a smashing victory in battle of the 2010 federal elections. It is already well established that Religious Right initiated antiabortion legislation and regulation in the states, where most policy is made, has made great progress in recent years -- this, while Beltway Insiders were busy seeking common ground with anti-abortion activists. This was the subject of considerable discussion, and in the end, dubious outcomes. I would have thought that even Inside The Beltway, the discussion would have progressed. But if a recent blog post at Bold Faith Type is any indication, it may have regressed. Nick Sementelli writes:
There are numerous examples of common-ground ideas being adopted by political actors or introduced as legislative proposals. Notably, the Democratic Party added abortion reduction language in their 2008 party platform, then-Senator Obama mentioned it in his presidential nomination acceptance speech, the Ryan-DeLauro bill introduced last year incorporated a host of ideas about prevention and support for pregnant women aimed at the same thing, and the Affordable Care Act included $250 million in funding for programs supporting pregnant and parenting women and families.

http://www.talk2action.org/story/2010/12/10/232511/92/Front_Page/The_Fog_of_the_Abortion_War

[get the red out]

1. It has a lot to do with election results

The so called "culture wars" are exactly how the Repukes came to power in the first place in rural areas. There are people who KNOW that the tea baggers and repukes will enact legislation that would harm them or their families but feel they must vote for the "conservative" because of religion. The Republican Party owns religion in this country, which means the corporate powers own religion in this country. The religious conservatives would slit their own throats if these pieces of shit told them too. Lack of education and pounding people with fear. The Repukes and the Religious right are a perfect match of hate.