Democrats tackle pro-abortion label
WASHINGTON – Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan plans to introduce legislation in September to provide funding for federal programs to reduce abortions, an issue that has plagued the Democratic Party in the last few elections.
The legislation has strong support from Democrats for Life, a group of anti-abortion Democrats. The organization has grown from five state chapters to 41 in the last three years, said Kristen Day, executive director.
“The last election sent a really strong message that (Democrats) lost a lot of voters,” she said. “It’s very clear that we need to take away the abortion litmus test for our party.”
Ryan, D-Ohio, wants to reduce the number of abortions by 95 percent in 10 years by increasing federal funding for abortion counseling and daycare at universities, requiring contraception coverage by insurance companies, prohibiting minors from being taken out of state for abortions and making tax credits for adoption permanent.
Ryan said his legislation should win support from Democrats who favor abortion rights because it focuses on prevention rather than criminal penalties.
“We’ve allowed ourselves to get defined on this issue,” he said. “This allows everyone to have political cover and … reduce the number of abortions as well.”
The proposal is one of several recent signals of a movement among Democrats to moderate the party’s positions on such hot-button social issues.
But overcoming the perceived advantage Republicans have on cultural issues among voters will be tough for Democrats, experts say.
According to an exit poll conducted by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International during the November election, 35 percent of Bush voters chose moral values as the single most important issue followed by terrorism at 32 percent. Kerry supporters listed economy/jobs first at 33 percent, and moral values were at 8 percent.
And a report released Tuesday showed rural voters put more value on social issues than economic concerns. The report was based on a series of focus groups by Democracy Corps, an independent group that provides advice to Democrats.
Rural voters in Appleton, Wis., Little Rock, Ark., Louisville, Ky., and Golden, Colo., said abortion, gay marriage and the role of religion in public life were more important than healthcare or retirement issues, the report showed.
“The Democrats have to blunt or at least in some ways limit the fallout from those social positions that are at the root of the party,” said Stephen Hess, a professor of public affairs at George Washington University. “I would think it would be very hard.”
But Senate minority leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry didn’t lose the 2004 election because of social issues.
“I don’t buy the argument that Kerry lost because of the gay-marriage amendment and abortion,” Reid said. “I believe he lost because he didn’t campaign (aggressively) in rural America.”