US: Activists predict abortion will be a hot issue in campaigns

[webfact]

Activists predict abortion will be a hot issue in campaigns
By DAVID CRARY

NEW YORK (AP) — With a deeper-than-ever split between Republicans and Democrats over abortion, activists on both sides of the debate foresee a 2016 presidential campaign in which the nominees tackle the volatile topic more aggressively than in past elections.

Friction over the issue also is likely to surface in key Senate races. And the opposing camps will be further energized by Republican-led congressional investigations of Planned Parenthood and by Supreme Court consideration of tough anti-abortion laws in Texas.

"It's an amazing convergence of events," said Charmaine Yoest, CEO of the anti-abortion group Americans United for Life. "We haven't seen a moment like this for 40 years."

In the presidential race, Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton is a longtime defender of abortion rights and has voiced strong support for Planned Parenthood — a major provider of abortions, health screenings and contraceptives — as it is assailed by anti-abortion activists and Republican officeholders.

In contrast, nearly all of the GOP candidates favor overturning the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide. Some of the top contenders — including Sens. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio — disapprove of abortions even in cases of rape and incest.

"We may very well have the most extreme Republican presidential nominee since Roe — a nominee who's not in favor of abortion in any possible way," said Stephanie Schriock, president of EMILY's List. The organization, which supports female candidates who back abortion rights, says it is en route to breaking its fundraising records. A similar claim is made by some anti-abortion political action groups.

What's changed for this election? One factor is the increased polarization of the two major parties. Only a handful of anti-abortion Democrats and abortion-rights Republicans remain in Congress, and recent votes attempting to ban late-term abortions and halt federal funding to Planned Parenthood closely followed party lines.

Another difference: Republicans in the presidential field and in Congress seem more willing than in past campaigns to take the offensive on abortion-related issues. Past nominees George W. Bush, John McCain and Mitt Romney opposed abortion but were not as outspoken as some of the current GOP candidates.

"Abortion will bubble over into the general election," said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, which supports female candidates opposed to abortion. "If you don't know how to handle this issue, you will be eviscerated."

As the campaign unfolds, other factors will help keep the abortion debate in the spotlight.

The Supreme Court will be hearing arguments, probably in March, regarding a Texas law enacted in 2013 that would force numerous abortion clinics to close. One contested provision requires abortion facilities to be constructed like surgical centers; another says doctors performing abortions at clinics must have admitting privileges at a local hospital.

The Texas dispute will have echoes in other states as social conservatives lobby for more laws restricting abortion. Americans United for Life plans a multistate push for a package of bills called the Infants' Protection Project; one measure would ban abortions performed because of fetal abnormalities such as Down syndrome while another would ban abortions after five months of pregnancy.

Also unfolding during the campaign will be a new investigation launched by House Republicans to examine the practices of Planned Parenthood and other major abortion providers. The panel's chair, Rep. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, says its work will likely continue past Election Day.

The investigation — denounced by Democrats as a partisan witch hunt — is among several congressional and state probes resulting from the release of undercover videos made by anti-abortion activists. They claim the videos show Planned Parenthood officials negotiating the sale of fetal tissue in violation of federal law; Planned Parenthood denies any wrongdoing and says the programs in question at a handful of its clinics entailed legal donations of fetal tissue.

Cruz is among many Republicans who have already passed judgment on Planned Parenthood, calling it "an ongoing criminal enterprise." He welcomed the endorsement of anti-abortion activist Troy Newman, who helped orchestrate the undercover video operation.

Donald Trump, who leads the GOP presidential polls, has been harder to pin down on the issue. He describes himself as "pro-life" and open to defunding Planned Parenthood, while acknowledging that he held different views in the past.

Planned Parenthood's leaders say a majority of U.S. voters oppose efforts to cut off its federal funding, most of which subsidizes non-abortion health services for patients on Medicaid. Planned Parenthood's political action fund hopes to spend a record amount — more than $15 million — on election-related advocacy.

The fund's executive vice president, Dawn Laguens, contends that some GOP presidential hopefuls, including Cruz and Rubio, may have hurt their general election prospects by making strong bids for anti-abortion votes in the primaries.

"They've gone so far out on the limb that they won't be able to crawl back," she said.

National polls over the years show the American public deeply divided on abortion. An Associated Press-GfK poll released Dec. 22 found 58 percent of U.S. adults saying abortion should be legal in most or all cases, and 39 percent saying it should be illegal in most or all cases. Forty-five percent viewed Planned Parenthood favorably; 30 percent unfavorably.

Abortion and Planned Parenthood are likely to surface as divisive issues in several of the races that will decide control of the Senate.

New Hampshire features an intriguing race between two women. Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan, a supporter of abortion rights, hopes to unseat GOP incumbent Kelly Ayotte, who is endorsed by anti-abortion groups and favors halting Planned Parenthood's federal funding.

Other key Senate races likely to feature sharp divisions over abortion include those in Pennsylvania, Nevada, Wisconsin and the crucial presidential battleground of Ohio, where GOP incumbent Rob Portman is expected to be challenged by former Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland.


-- (c) Associated Press 2015-12-28

[bangon04]

"The fund's executive vice president, Dawn Laguens, contends that some GOP presidential hopefuls, including Cruz and Rubio, may have hurt their general election prospects by making strong bids for anti-abortion votes in the primaries.

"They've gone so far out on the limb that they won't be able to crawl back," she said."

Naaah You give the electorate far too much credit for memory.

[ggt]

Just a personal observation...but most of us would be appalled at watching an animal eat their own young...

Americans have devoured (figuratively) over 50 million would be children since the 1973 kill your own baby bill became law...

So proud women have a choice...so sad their own flesh and blood do not...

One does not have to be a moral giant to know this activity is just wrong on all levels...

[Berkshire]

This is one issue that will absolutely bury the GOP. Most Americans--particularly women--do not want to go back to the days of back alley abortions and coat hangers. The fact that Cruz and Rubio are anti-abortion, even in cases of rape and incest, makes them unelectable in a general election. It's pretty foolish of the Republicans to keep going back to this issue that was settled years ago.

[Michael8511]

The right wing religious republicans are over and over preaching about to much goverment interfering in people's life, the big problem is that they want goverment interference when it's convenient for them. Abortions should be the individual women's or couples right nobody should interfere with their private believes. Religion and politic are not mention to be mixed.

[retarius]

How sad is this? How decadent. The world is aflame, and the US election being decided on whether the candidate is pro-choice or anti-abortion. Talk about fiddling while Rome burns.

[HenryB]

Americans love Abortions but are against the Death Penalty for Killers and Drug Dealers

[Pinot]

This is one issue that will absolutely bury the GOP. Most Americans--particularly women--do not want to go back to the days of back alley abortions and coat hangers. The fact that Cruz and Rubio are anti-abortion, even in cases of rape and incest, makes them unelectable in a general election. It's pretty foolish of the Republicans to keep going back to this issue that was settled years ago.

Well, of course it is. Like voting against very popular Obamacare 50 times. These lemmings are in lock step right off the cliff.

Take the right to chose away from women for religious reasons. After the baby is born...screw it. You're Republican party in action.

America can't let a Republican become President with 4 probable new Supreme Court Justices in the next few years. These current justices have done enough damage.

[ggt]

What will be a surprising revelation to many is...that Gallop has been polling the Pro and Anti abortion numbers for many years and it has been relatively close over all people polled...from about mid 2011 thru mid 2013 the people proclaiming to be Pro-Life actually exceeded the Abortion folks...

This is not a so much a GOP or DEM issue as one might think...it is not an intellectual vs uneducated issue...it is not a religion vs non-religion issue...it is a highly emotional issue for both sides...it is something that gnaws at the gut of those who have been closely involved by either having an abortion or having a child or grandchild throw out with the trash...

Studies indicate that more than 95% of all abortions are abortions of convenience...with the abundance of free condoms and inexpensive contraceptives...it is really inexcusable for a woman to get pregnant in this day and age...willingly choosing to kill her own baby...due to her irresponsible and negligent behavior...is the worst possible outcome...for the baby and the mother (who is arguably emotionally scarred the rest of her life)...

The murdered children will have the last laugh in years to come as the number of people needed to keep the US economy afloat has reached a point of no return...there simply will not be enough buyers alive to purchase goods, services, and raw materials to keep the US economy from going in the toilet...along with the dollar...by then it will be too late to change course...unless, of course...the US manages to overpopulates with S. Americans, Africans and ME immigrants...(Maybe that is the overall desire of some) get rid of the so-called white-privilege people...change the color of America...so to speak.

What a tangled web we weave...

[bendejo]

The whole anti-abortion thing in the US is a farce. The right wing keeps it going to keep for the sake of the battle, in an attempt to block out any other sort of progress, keeps the liberals distracted. This was settled at the federal level decades ago. An abortion is the removal of a fetus. It is not the killing of a baby. Usually those who beat the "right to life" (as the anti-abortion crowd dubs itself) drum are also pro-death penalty. Once the child is born this same crowd does not give a rat's derriere about the future or well-being of the person, if anything the attitude is "a mother who can't support her kids shouldn't be having children." duhhh...

This issue is also used to dominate the ever more brain-dead "news" broadcasts in the US and fills up air time, keeping out more important issues.

US television news = garbage.

You too, cable.

Edited December 28, 2015 by bendejo

[mopar71]

From 2001 to 2006 the US had a "right wing religious nut" for a President and Republicans controlled Congress for much of that time. They must have really gone after abortion right back then, eh? No, they didn't. They won't after the next election either. It is just more rhetoric used to scare the great unwashed ignorant liberal masses.