T-Paw: Criminally Sanction Abortion Providers But Not Abortion Seekers

This is a gaffe? I thought this was the mainstream pro-life position.

Sure, it makes logical sense to throw an abortion-seeking teenaged girl in jail, too, but people who go around saying things like "I want to lock up knocked-up teenaged girls" tend not to get elected.

One of those many cases where the strongest proponents for a cause wind up almost insuring their cause will never actually prevail, because they refuse to offer the public anything less than the most politically-unpalatable policy choice on the menu.

This is kind of the standard line offered by most pro-life politicians. It just is. Go poll every pro-life politician and see how many endorse the "logical" position that both abortion-provider and abortion-seeker should be imprisoned.

Gay Marriage: You know how they did gay marriage, and got it to the point where a recent polls says just over 50% support gay marriage?

The "frog will not jump out of the water if you gradually raise the temperature" thing.

First they talked nonstop about civil unions and of eradicating any distinction in the law between gay sex and straight sex.

When people said "This will lead to gay marriage," they said, "Don't be absurd, no it won't."

Then, having removed all legal distinctions between a gay coupling and a straight coupling, and gotten the public to be fairly supportive of civil unions, then they began saying civil unions were in fact unconstitutional in distinguishing between gay and straight unions and only actual marriage could suffice.

They didn't start off -- at least not the ones who knew what they were doing -- turning the water up to scalding. First they turned it to 70 degrees, then 80, then 90...

Yes, I mean Centigrade. Though it does strike me that a frog would die in 80 degree C water but let's not get bogged down in my stupid details.

So where are we? We're in a situation where the public likes saying, as a gestural matter, that it's anti-abortion, but the majority position seems to actually be pro-choice with exceptions.

Abortion isn't even illegal yet, except in a few states and in a few cases. It's illegal for almost nobody.

But it's a smart move to make the most sympathetic players in this sad game the targets of criminal incarceration from the jump?

No, it's not smart. It's dumb.

It's almost actually being strongly pro-abortion in actual effect, because that's the side this position winds up aiding.

Kermit Gosnell: Someone brought this fiend up in the comments.

That's where we are. Where it's still considered politically controversial and politically courageous to incarcerate guy running a human slaughterhouse.

That's currently "controversial."

But sure, let's right out of the gates go after 15 year old girls. That'll fly.

posted by Ace at 11:21 AM

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