Opinion Pieces Comment On 'Common Ground' Approach To Abortion-Rights Issues

Main Category: Abortion
Article Date: 28 May 2009 - 2:00 PDT

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Long Island Newsday on Sunday featured two opinion pieces on how to best meet President Obama's call for a "common-ground" approach to the abortion-rights debate, which he reiterated in his address at the University of Notre Dame's commencement last week. Summaries appear below.

~ Candace Straight: "The American people are exhausted" with the long-standing "[g]ridlock and extremism" in the abortion-rights debate, Straight, the national co-chair of the Republican Majority for Choice, writes in a Newsday opinion piece. Voters from both parties are "ready for a more constructive dialogue -- one that focuses on solutions rather than power plays," she continues. According to Straight, there is "more than enough work to be done in that space called 'common ground,'" and the need to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies is "immediate, and the results achievable." Straight writes, "Ensuring access to contraception is an obvious place for enthusiastic bipartisan action." Comprehensive sex education in schools "is another good place to find common ground," she says. Both political parties "must have a frank discussion with the all-or-nothing wings of their movements," according to Straight. Obama in his speech "offered three key messages on the subject of abortion: 'Open hearts. Open minds. Fair-minded words,'" Straight writes, concluding, "On those, we should all be able to agree" (Straight, Long Island Newsday, 5/22).

~ Kristen Day: Although many antiabortion-rights advocates have not supported Obama's early decisions on issues related to abortion rights, "we consider the remarks at Notre Dame to have established a common ground from which to move forward in the abortion debate," Day, executive director of Democrats for Life, writes in a Newsday opinion piece. According to Day, Obama "put forth goals that align almost completely with the specifics" of the Pregnant Women Support Act, which "focuses on what a majority of Americans would like to see -- fewer abortions and more support for women to carry their pregnancies to term." Day writes that opponents' "biggest objection" to the bill is that it does not include pregnancy-prevention measures. In addition, a "minority" of Democrats who support abortion rights believe the PWSA "goes too far toward common ground," especially on the provision that would require abortion providers to offer voluntary pre-abortion counseling on risks of the procedure, according to Day. "Regardless of the ebb and flow of support to our ground-breaking legislation, we believe abortion reduction is an imminent legislative reality," Day writes, concluding, "More Americans are demanding workable, constructive and conciliatory solutions that will actually reduce the abortion rate" (Day, Long Island Newsday, 5/22).

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