Editorial, Opinion Piece Discuss Abortion, Rape Comments in Political Campaigns

October 31, 2012 — A recent editorial and opinion piece addressed reproductive health issues that have come up in the election this year. Summaries appear below.

~ Bloomberg: The editorial calls Senate candidates Indiana Treasurer Richard Mourdock and Rep. Todd Akin (Mo.) "exponents of an anti-abortion movement that grew strikingly assertive after the Republican electoral success of 2010" and says they represent "a radical departure from the ungainly but otherwise stable consensus that has marked abortion politics for decades -- in which support for rape, incest and life-of-the-mother exceptions has been commonplace, even among abortion opponents." At the same time, "Democrats appear tempted to retreat from the muddled middle and hunker down on their own fringe," but that "would be a moral miscalculation and a political blunder. It is precisely the ambivalent middle of the debate that most deserves reinforcing," the editorial continues. It concludes, "The militants of either side will not win this one" (Bloomberg, 10/29).

~ David Horsey, Baltimore Sun: "The fact is, in Republican circles, banning abortion in nearly all cases is no longer a radical position -- it's even part of the platform adopted at the national convention in Tampa," Horsey writes, noting that while certain Republicans, such as Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), have distanced themselves from comments by Mourdock and Akin, Mitt Romney has not and in fact has remained "studiously vague on the issue." Horsey concludes, "Romney has tried out multiple positions on everything else and, chances are, he will find himself agreeing with Mr. Mourdock in no time at all" (Horsey, Baltimore Sun, 10/30).