Dempublicans and the forced childbirth movement

Posted by Joshua Holland at 2:05 PM on January 18, 2006.

Ugh.

Rocky Mountain News:

Bill Ritter has been having the same conversation, over and over again, with Democrats all over the state.

The former Denver district attorney, who is now the front-runner for the party's nomination for governor, has been meeting with voters who want to talk with him about something they know they are in disagreement on: abortion.

Ritter, a devout Catholic, is anti-abortion. He is painfully aware that most Colorado Democrats favor abortion rights. […]

Some Colorado Democrats are so uncomfortable with Ritter's personal opposition to abortion that they have been pressuring Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, who favors abortion rights, to jump into the governor's race. […]

Other women who feel just as strongly about the right to have an abortion have endorsed Ritter.

"Bill is someone who promotes the well-being and empowerment of people who are disenfranchised," said Robin Finegan, a longtime activist who worked for Ritter as a victim's advocate and favors abortion rights. "He is morally opposed to abortion, but there's a difference with what the right-wing Republican party is doing.

"It isn't part of a greater political agenda for him."

The conversation now taking place in the Colorado Democratic Party is also taking place nationally.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean has been encouraging state parties to be more open to anti-abortion candidates, saying he fears that the party is now seen as not just pro-choice but pro-abortion. […]

"There's a lot of (anti-abortion) Democrats out there," said Luis Miranda, spokesman for the DNC. "Republicans have tried to frame Democrats as pro-abortion. This is about redefining that debate."

You want to redefine the debate? Try this: "I'm against forced childbirth. I don't think the state should be forcing women to give birth against their will."

Because that's exactly what we're talking about: a movement that opposes contraception, opposes the kind of comprehensive sex education that's been proven to reduce unwanted pregnancies and opposes abortion. Is that so hard?

Joshua Holland is a staff writer at Alternet and a regular contributor to The Gadflyer.