Will a pro-life Democrat ever be nominated for president?

[The Chronicler]

It's an interesting question. There are some within the party who do have pro-life (except in cases of R/I/LOM) stances, and even some who support prayer in school on a limited basis (Harold Ford, Jr). I wonder how nominating someone with these positions would play in a national election?

[Placebo]

1. Nominate them if you wish...

but they won't be getting my vote!

[The Chronicler]

6. I'm trying to look at it in a politically scientific way.

If it were R vs. D and Nader wasn't running, you would then vote for the libertarian candidate? Or just refrain?

[JohnKleeb]

12. You know the interesting thing is

Especially in rustbelt areas, there are dems like this, they're a little traditional on social issues but economically they are very good, though I like all around progressives.

[Placebo]

14. I wouldn't vote at all...

If that was the choice! Eek.

[Lizzie Borden]

17. No.

n/t

[papau]

32. All Democrats that I know are pro-life - but most refuse to force that on

other people.

If the question is will a Democratic Party nominate a person who wants to taken away a womens right to choose - I believe you are correct in simply saying


"NO" n/t

[Placebo]

38. That's true, technically, Kerry is Anti-Choice

he just won't make it public policy

[EST]

42. Sorry must disagree.

Kerry is very pro life; he is strongly against the death penalty. Also prefers that children not die of starvation, or aids or a bunch of other things!

[CarolynEC]

55. No, Kerry is PRO-Choice.

He personally objects to abortion, but supports a woman's right to make that choice herself.

[Born Free]

58. big difference between pro-life and people wanting to make choice illegal

Many democrats are pro-life, we do things to help in some small ways ,such as adopting an older, unwanted child with problems. Some prefer to make choice illegal, they really don't care about anything else, they just believe that if the woman no longer can make that choice all will be well. Many of these individuals do absolutely nothing to help the children in the world, they refuse to pay any more taxes for schools and other needed items as the children are born, they have only one goal , to make it illegal for a woman to choose to have an abortion. They like to hide behind the "pro-life" banner but in reality all they want is to make choice illegal. Reasonable people look at the failed drug wars and realize that making choice illegal is not the answer and is doomed to fail just like the failed drug war.

[calico1]

2. Those Democrats are in the minority

and unless they have other strong points going for them I don't see how they could win a nomination over a more Liberal candidate. People who want anti choice, school prayer candidates vote Republican.

[BurtWorm]

3. The Repuublican party is the anti-woman party.

Let it so remain.

[The Chronicler]

11. Something like half of women are pro-life.

I was reading an article about it the other day. How The Democratic Party's fervent pro-choice stance could actually be a hindrance.

[BurtWorm]

19. So be it.

Republicans can keep their anti-woman, anti-privacy policy. Let *them* explain to their faithful that it can never become law.

[K-W]

24. Care to provide a source, because that doesnt sound true.

And that source should include the exact polling question.

[The Chronicler]

34. Well....

Women are more pro-life than men -- a trend over the past decade. Sixty-one percent of women hold a pro-life position compared to 53 percent of men. Women under age 34 and over 55 are more pro-life than middle-aged women.


http://www.euthanasia.com/poll.html



------

It was a while back. I can't remember where I read it exactly. I'll keep looking. This particular article echoes what I read. It looks like a pretty biased site though.

[BurtWorm]

36. You're not even making any effort

any more, are you? ;)

[The Chronicler]

37. I am kind of busy.

I'll find it.

[BurtWorm]

40. I know you want to grab the first thing at hand

and of course the first thing at YOUR hand is something from the Family Resource Council. :eyes:

[The Chronicler]

41. Google actually

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=women+%2B+abortion+%2B+poll

[EST]

46. Family Research council? Gary Bauer?

Yeh, really credible sources, aren't they?

[Media_Lies_Daily]

65. That tells us just about all we need to know, doesn't it?

[EST]

70. Yeh, purty much.

'Course there may be a shortage of reading material.

[The Chronicler]

73. This was the piece actually.

http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110005277

[KurtNYC]

29. Not the stats I see -- 61% of women want it legal

As long has been the case, women and men support legal abortion in roughly equal numbers. In this poll 61 percent of women and 58 percent of men say it should be legal in all or most cases.

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/DailyNews/poll_abortionrights010122.html

[Media_Lies_Daily]

64. Reading certain posts on DU can be a "hindrance", too.

[TahitiNut]

30. Cheap Labor Fascists want more poor workers for their sweatshops

It was the same during the Third Reich. :shrug:

[dogtag]

4. I sure hope not. (n/t)

[EST]

5. I don't know any democrats who aren't pro-life...

And most are pro-choice.

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

7. I have no objections

per se to a candidate who is pro-life and/or prayer in school AS LONG AS he/she does not force his/her views on the rest of the nation. Basically, when these issues come to the forefront, if this candidate does not use his/her moral beliefs to force the pro-life (which, by the way, is not a term I like. I prefer "anti-choice") and school prayer viewpoints on everyone else.

[The Chronicler]

18. I tend to agree with you.

I think a person can personally be pro-life and pro-'moment of silence in school' and it just be a personal thing with them, not have to force it on everyone. It could be politically beneficial at the same time.

[JohnKleeb]

8. No

Though I don't have a problem with many pro life dems, I think it would he a slim possiblity.

[ThomCat]

9. I hope not

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

10. Don't you mean Pro-Preggers? I'm pro-life and pro-choice.

I believe that a woman's right to have an abortion is pro-life.

[LisaLynne]

15. Well said. nt

[telamachus]

72. I don't get it.

could you please explain..thanks.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

75. It is a comment on the misnomer "pro-life".

Most of the "pro-lifers" that I know of, aren't really concerned with "life". Rather, they are nominally anti-abortion, but really anti-women's rights, especially in the area of sexuality. They talk about stopping abortions on the one hand, while being simultaneously against birth control and sex eductation which are much more effective at preventing unwanted pregnancies - hence, preventing many more abortions than any of their (the pro-preggers) methods of intimidation.

To them, pregnancy is punishment for women's sexuality for any other reason than conception.

In that sense, I consider myself to be "pro-life" in that I am for the rights of women to experience life in it's fullest. The freedom to have sex (or not) without the fear of pregnancy.

[trotsky]

13. Prayer in school "on a limited basis"?

What kind of right-wing phrasebook did you get that out of?

Kids and teachers and staff are free to pray whenever they want in school. They just can't engage in any religious activity which monopolizes school resources, or force others to go along with them. That's the law, and that's also what pisses off the right-wing fundamentalists.

[The Chronicler]

22. I don't mean religious

I just mean a moment of silence at the beginning of school. Harold Ford Jr. is for it, and so are some other moderate Dems.

[trotsky]

25. It starts with a moment of silence...

Problem is, some religions don't consider a moment of silence to be sacred at all. In fact, some religions feel that prayers must be spoken aloud. How do you accomodate them?

Sorry to veer off your original topic, but this is important.

[K-W]

28. The problem is that in very christian areas, they just use that time for

group prayer, which is a clear violation of the constititution. A properly executed reflection time at the start of school I dont see as unconstitutional.

[K-W]

26. Actually almost everybody supports moments of silence.

It is not an issue that devides democrats. As long as students are free to do whatever they want in that time (that doesnt disrupt other students obviously)

[BurtWorm]

31. "Moderate" Dems?

Oh what a giveaway!

[luaneryder]

16. You mean an anti choice Dem?

The kind who thinks no sperm should be wasted and a that woman isn't functioning unless she's manufacturing babies on demand? I hope not.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

20. So, what's preventing the tykes from praying in school now?

Just because they aren't allowed to make entertainment out of it, they can pray all day.

[Bandit]

21. Most Democrats are indeed Pro Life just not Anti-Abortion

Republicans are not Pro-Life. That is just another fancy name they have taken, which as are most others they claim, the exact opposite of the truth. They are Anti-Abortion but they also are for the Tobacco Industry, which is the number one killer in America. They are for the Death Penalty, War, Assault weapons, and pollution such as higher doses of mercury in the water, etc. etc. Democrats are really the Pro-Life Party even though they accept that a women should control her own body.

[flaminbats]

79. every Democratic nominee I have voted for was pro-life...

they were just not anti-choice. I would never support a candidate running on a pro-death message, Democrat or Republican! :thumbsdown:

[KurtNYC]

23. Why would a democrat embrace and use the term "pro-life" ?

That's a loaded RW word. It implies that the other option is pro-death.

I prefer the terms Pro-Choice and Anti-choice. So you are asking when Dems will nominate a misogynist Anti-Choice candidate for Prez? When chickens vote for Colonel Sanders.

[Name removed]

27. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[EST]

39. Is that two questions?

Hehe-sorry, I digress-maybe I should use my moment of silence to be silent!

[Jacobin]

33. I have one question for the nominee which 'pro-lifers' won't answer

If a woman is convicted of having an abortion, how many years should she spend in jail? Can she take her other children to jail with her? Or, since it is "premeditated murder" shouldn't this be a capital offense?

[ISUGRADIA]

81. That's the same question I always want to ask

If the fetus is a child and it's "murder" as the anti-choice zealots claim then the doctor and woman have to go to jail. Period. Otherwise you are valuing that "life" less than others. There is no way they can be consistent and win.

Oh, and the Democrats are not going to nominate a cndidate who believe abortion should be illegal for president.

[bowens43]

35. All Democrats are Pro Life

[blm]

43. David Bonior and Dennis Kucinich are personally prolife

but they wouldn't impose that position on every American.

John Kerry is prolife personally but would fight for the rights of women and families to make their own reproductive choices.

George Bush personally chose abortion when it came to a decision for himself and his girlfriend, even though it was illegal at the time. So, i guess Bush is really prochoice personally but believes that noone else should be allowed to make that decision for themself.

[The Chronicler]

44. lol yeah

nm

[flaminbats]

80. lol, yeah...so was *

nm

[Lourde_Green]

45. Let me put on my asbestos suit here. . .

I'm what you'd call a "pragmatic" pro-lifer. I know Roe v. Wade isn't going away, but things like partial birth abortion SHOULD go away. A pre-med student I was dating told me that she couldn't find a medical benefit for it, so she'd never do it, while all other forms of abortion were sufficient.
I'm pro-life because - -well, the battlefield is where death belongs, not a doctors office. Death is the occupation of the Right, the Left should never do such a thing. We point to them when they are pro-Death Penalty- - but those people have had a chance. As primitive as their thinking is, it has a point the simple minded ( for if a con is nothing else, it is simple minded) can appreciate.
I figure I may as well be consistent- - If you let the convict live, so should the innocent.

*The King is Dead- Long live the King*

[BurtWorm]

47. "Pro-life" is not a pragmatic postion.

It's an idealist position. Unfortunately we live in a real universe.

[Lourde_Green]

50. Why. . .

do you think I said RoeV Wade isn't going away.I know I typed that somewhere in there.

[BurtWorm]

51. And why isn't it going away?

Do you think it's for purely political reasons?

On "PBA," there is a clear medical call for late-term abortion, which is the reason it was invented and the reason the ban is going to be overturned.

[Lourde_Green]

I gotta hear this...

I think R v. W is politics. I may be a woman, but I really do think it's playing politics with women's lives.

And I gotta hear the medical reasons for letting a baby be partially born and having it's brains sucked out...I REALLY gotta hear this.

*The King is dead- long live the king*

[BurtWorm]

56. It's economics.

No ban on abortion will ever be practical because of the expense involved in enforcing it. It's a lost proposition. But it's a winner at the ballot box to propose a ban. Gets all those reconstructionists worked up to get out the vote, doesn't it. ;)

And as for the medical reason for late-term abortion, look at the decisions in the federal cases that have already challenged the constitutionality of it.

[Lourde_Green]

63. Uh, EXUSE ME?

What kind of response is that? You gave me an assertion, I ask for a link, and you tell me to go look it up? Can I borrow that to win all my future arguments? I mean, cons do crap like what you just did all the time- - I really expected better. I ask for a medical reason, you hide behind the law.Just admit that this is how you feel, and I'll leave it alone.

*The King is Dead- long live the king*

[Name removed]

66. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Lourde_Green]

68. Exuse me?

I didn't come here to be talked to like this. I may not toe the Democratic line on everything, but we have the same goal. Just because I wanna debate the fine points of this doesn't make me some immature bitch, which is what you seem to be hinting. I came to sit at the table, and bring an opinion. If you can't respect that, who the hell is the grown up?

*The king is dead-long live the king*

[BurtWorm]

78. Uh, EXCUSE YOU?!

Here's an article about one woman's experience with a second trimester abortion. Read what she went through, then ask yourself if any sane woman would put herself through something like it if she didn't think it were medically necessary:

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/magazine/articles/2004/01/25/my_late_term_abortion/


Excuse YOU!? :eyes:

[Lourde_Green]

54. I gotta hear this...

Hate posting twice. Disregard.

[EST]

52. This is a pretty rational time of day.

Probably won't need your nomex. Most liberals/progressives have a rational and sympathetic outlook. The problem is, in the face of rabid, ferocious attacks from the wingnuts, a rational stance just won't get noticed. The thugs pretend you said something you didn't say then attack based on their own assumptions. This lack of reasonableness often forces a winner-take-all response.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

48. All Dems are pro-life, what most Dems are NOT is anti-choice

Pro-Life means not killing people who may have committed a crime because they have a mental illness. Pro-life means helping find ways to cure life threating illnesses. Pro life means making sure that the kids that ARE alive have food to eat, good schools to go to and a good place to live.

[lastliberalintexas]

49. Wow, you worked really hard

at getting that post count all the way into the 80s before you posted flamebait. All those single word or lol and n/t messages must have really taxed you. :eyes:

[EST]

57. Isn't that what they do

over in that other place? I think my own problem, and that of many others, is that I treat almost anyone's post as a sincere effort at understanding and an attempt at mature discussion. Leads to a lot of practice keystrokes.

[Name removed]

59. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[BurtWorm]

60. Aha! You misspelled "hysterical!"

It's all out in the open now! ;)

[The Chronicler]

doh!!

I need a vacation.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

67. By all means...take a LONG vacation. Buh-bye!!

[lastliberalintexas]

61. I didn't allege that you were a freeper

I simply pointed out the lack of substance in the vast majority of your posts that I found by searching your user name. And then this flamebait.


Excuse me for wondering why the need for yet another abortion thread.

[EST]

69. Generally, I have found that a sincere desire

to present a point of view on DU is accompanied by an allowance for the sensibilities of others, rather than broached in an aggressive, abrasive fashion. A soft question or reply turneth away wrath. The choice of words one uses often says more about the speaker than does the stated intent. This place is designed for open direct discussion, so a strong stand must, perforce, expect to supply a strong and informed argument.
Hysteria is kind of the order of the day, as there have been many attempts at disruption and battle jitters are to be expected.

In other words, how you say something is often more revealing than what you say.
I have never subscribed to "wingness," per se, but the level of vitriol evident on the internet has surprised and shocked me. I have to take a siand, and that stand must include an honest attempt to understand where the other person is coming from.

[JerseygirlCT]

53. Hope not. nt

[ismnotwasm]

62. Hell, no

[crispini]

71. I think it's time to reclaim the tag "pro-life"

Although it may cause some confusion, I think it's worth while to consider reclaiming this term. I *am* pro-life. I am pro- the life of *everyone* including small children, lower-income people, soldiers, prisoners, etc. When it comes to abortion, I am FOR individual women's soverignty over their own bodies.

[Padraig18]

74. 3-word answer:

Not... bloody... likely.

[The Flaming Red Head]

76. Let's hope not! n/t

[seabeyond]

77. kerry is pro life, he just doenst believe government

should get involved with making personal decisions for women

[flaminbats]

82. What about Zell Miller??

he's the only pro-death Democrat I know who is also pro-choice. The real debate over Zell...is he really a Democrat? :shrug: