Democrats aim to reduce abortions
WASHINGTON – Reaching out to more moderate, church-going voters with misgivings about abortion, House Democrats plan to unveil legislation today that sets a public policy goal of reducing abortions in America.
The proposal, to be announced at a news conference attended by House Democrats’ national campaign chairman, Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., would not restrict access to abortion. Instead, it promotes such preventive measures as funding for contraceptives and expanded sex education geared toward avoiding pregnancy as well as support for adoption and services to new mothers, according to several people familiar with the legislation.
The legislation targets voters who have concerns about abortion but who are not absolutely opposed to the procedure. Its introduction follows extended discussion in Democratic political circles about improving the party’s image with traditionalist voters and public efforts by prominent Democrats to fashion an approach to abortion with broader appeal.
In January, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., urged the party to find “common ground” with abortion opponents. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., this summer chastised fellow Democrats for giving insufficient regard to “the power of faith.”
The issue is delicate as the party seeks to address the ambivalence much of the American public feels toward abortion without offending a Democratic base that includes many passionate believers in abortion rights who are wary of any sign of a weakening in resolve to protect those rights.
The legislation will be announced less than eight weeks before the Nov. 7 midterm election in which Democratic hopes of wresting control of Congress depend in part on competing in a number of socially conservative districts in places such as Ohio and Pennsylvania.
The Democratic Senate nominee in Pennsylvania, Bob Casey, opposes abortion rights.
Republicans in recent years have appealed to the unease over abortion felt by many moderates with such legislation as parental notification laws and the ban on certain late-term abortions that detractors labeled “partial-birth abortions.”