EDITORIALS; Coming to Grips With Abortion.(Editorial)

As the Democratic Party attempts to extricate itself from the debris of the 2004 elections, many party leaders and strategists - - even failed presidential nominee John Kerry - - have talked about the need to address abortion. An early story on this matter brought attention to a closed-door post-election meeting of a number of party activists at the headquarters of the AFL-CIO.

According to Newsweek's Debra Rosenberg,

"When Ellen Malcolm, president of the pro-choice political network EMILY's List, asked about the future direction of the party, Kerry tackled one of the Democrats' core tenets: abortion rights. He told the group they needed new ways to make people understand they didn't like abortion. Democrats also needed to welcome more pro-life candidates into the party, he said. 'There was a gasp in the room,' says Nancy Keenan, the new president of NARAL Pro-Choice America."

We can hope and pray that, indeed, the party will "welcome more pro-life candidates into the party." But if virtually everything else that has been said post-November 2 can be trusted, the long and the short of it will likely be nothing more than finding "new ways to make people understand they [Democrats] don't like abortion." In a word, words.

That's not only not enough, it's an insult to our intelligence. Does the following, taken from the Democrat's 2004 party platform, really suggest the party "doesn't like abortion"?

"Because we believe in the privacy and equality of women, we stand proudly for a woman's right to choose, consistent with Roe v. Wade, and regardless of her ability to pay. We stand firmly against Republican efforts to undermine that right."

This is a very thinly disguised insistence on abortion on demand and the obligation of the government to frisk your pockets to pay to take the lives of unborn children. No member of the Abortion Establishment needs "gasp" yet.