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Jewish World Review August 2, 2005 / 27 Tammuz, 5765 Roberts elevates abortion debate By Kathryn Lopez
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Well before Senate Judiciary Committee hearings even begin on the
nomination of John Roberts to sit on the Supreme Court, one thing is
clear about his impact on abortion in America. And it has little to
do with the president's nominee himself — at least with anything he
has done in his professional life.
As the D.C. chattering class tries to latch on to any and all
evidence they can find as to what John Roberts' position on abortion
may be, his nomination has raised the profile of a group called
Feminists for Life (FFL). And that's a healthy thing for everyone.
The Supreme Court nominee's wife, Jane Sullivan Roberts, has served
as a legal counsel to the group and as its executive vice president.
Debates over abortion — whether in the Senate or at your house
tonight — are infamously impossible. When you're cautioned against
not talking about religion or politics at the dinner table, your
hosts probably mean abortion in particular, which, of course, fits
in both categories — religion and politics — guaranteeing
indigestion.
But rather than have the same old conversations, using the tried and
often failed strategies, Feminists for Life starts at a point that
jars you because it's so different than the usual.
Feminists for Life's mantra is "Women Deserve Better." Is pregnancy
always ideal? Does it always come at the right time? In the right
way? Of course not. But that doesn't mean that abortion is good —
and they'll say that. It also doesn't mean that abortion is a
woman's (or girl's) only option — and FFL will get the word out
about alternatives to every scared or stressed parent they can.
These are FFL's messages. No aborted-fetus placards. No yelling.
They go the cute T-shirt and caring counseling routes instead. They
even have a bumper sticker that says "Peace Begins in the Womb." It
gets your attention, in a thoughtful, clever kind of way.
These are no small things, especially when even liberal feminist
Hillary Clinton has to concede — to the cringes of her base — that
reducing abortions should be a goal. August's Glamour magazine
reports on "the mysterious disappearance of young pro-choice women."
It's not so mysterious. Glamour's piece concludes that the decrease
in 20-somethings' support for abortion comes down to "young women
don't know how good they have it." Last year's crass, rabid
abortion-advocacy march on Washington aside, I'd rather like to
think that gals can think for themselves and know enough about the
world to realize that abortion isn't a great thing — and that there
are other options. And I'd bet a lot of all our conversations — the
real heart-to-hearts — reflect that. Feminists for Life is a group
that will make a whole lot of sense to the people Hillary is hoping
to reach (her voting record aside) — because Feminists for Life
just makes sense.
The group has been around since 1972, and has gotten some press time
here and there in large part thanks to the efforts on college
campuses and in Washington from the group's energetic head Serrin
Foster and its celebrity boosters (actresses Patricia Heaton and
Margaret Colin). But until now, their message has been largely under
the mainstream radar.
In the summer of 2005 — the "Summer of Justice" some of us Bush
supporters are hoping it will turn out to be — Feminists for Life
is suddenly everywhere. Whether John Roberts is confirmed or ever
rules on an abortion decision, he would have still made a positive
impact on the abortion debate in America simply by his association
with his wife.
While abortion-advocacy groups will spend the coming weeks trying to
strike fear in the hearts of Americans over the prospect of a
plausibly pro-life judge on the Supreme Court, the not-so-sidebar
story is that Feminists for Life now has a higher profile — a calm
and caring one — one that has real potential to resonate with
Americans who have no interest in screaming about abortion.
Feminists for Life has the civil, compassionate alternative to
dead-end debates. The Roberts family has already made history.
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© 2005, Newspaper Enterprise Assn. |
Mitch Albom | |||||||||||
