Support for a woman’s right to choose has long been part of the Democrat party platform, but politicians have been toning down the rhetoric after Senator John Kerry’s defeat in last year’s presidential elections.
Hillary Clinton, the hot favourite for the Democratic ticket in 2008, led the shift last month by saying that abortions were a “sad, even tragic choice to many, many women” and should be reduced.
Howard Dean, who galvanised the left of his party last year and has his eye on another presidential run, declared last week after his election as chairman of the Democratic National Committee: “There’s nobody in America who is in favour of abortion.”
Not to be outdone, Kerry, who also dreams of a comeback, has stated as firmly as possible: “I don’t want abortion. Abortion should be the rarest thing in the world. I am actually personally opposed to abortion.”
In the clearest sign of a revolution in party thinking, Democrat senators are urging two ardent pro-life supporters, Robert Casey of Pennsylvania and James Langevin of Rhode Island, to run for the Senate in 2006.
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Just under three years ago Casey was written off by one leading commentator as America’s “last pro-life Democrat” after he was defeated by a landslide in the primary race for the governorship of Pennsylvania.
Pro-choice campaigners ran a well-financed hit campaign tarring him as a fanatical opponent of abortion even for victims of rape and incest.
The Democrats’ Senate campaign committee is also turning to Langevin, a quadriplegic since an accident with a gun at 16, to run against a pro-choice Republican in Rhode Island. “Because of what happened to me, I became aware of how precious life is. I’m pro-life,” Langevin has said.
Whether the party’s new pro-life rhetoric will swing the red-state voters who delivered George W Bush a second-term victory remains to be tested. Despite their rhetoric, none of the Democrat presidential hopefuls wants to take away a woman’s right to choose abortion.