I point to an important upcoming book in my syndicated column this week. The book is Beyond a House Divided: The Moral Consensus Ignored by Washington, Wall Street, and the Media, by Carl Anderson of the Knights of Columbus.
Here’s a bit from my column where I talk about it:
… All of these [pro-life] women are people that EMILY’s List exists to drown out. But they’re being heard loud and clear. As Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List — the closest thing the pro-life movement has to an organized response to EMILY — says: “EMILY’s List has only dominated women’s politics for so long because it discourages female voter turnout of what they consider the ‘wrong kind of woman.’ That dominance is clearly on the wane.”
This election season points to a reality that hurts EMILY’s List at its core. There is “enormous consensus” on the issue of abortion, Knights of Columbus head Carl Anderson argues in his upcoming book, Beyond a House Divided: The Moral Consensus Ignored by Washington, Wall Street, and the Media. Surveys done for the Knights by the Marist Poll found that eight out of ten Americans “favor restrictions that would limit abortion to the first three months of pregnancy at most.” Additionally, Anderson notes that “53 percent of Americans would limit abortion to cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of a mother — or would not allow it at all. Among women, the number is even higher — 55 percent.”
In this election, according to Marist’s polling (which is consistent with CNN and other polling), EMILY’s List is playing to the less than a quarter of Americans who want abortion available throughout a woman’s pregnancy. Republicans, for the most part, seem to be playing to the consensus while being authentic to their principles. If 80 percent of us can agree on some restrictions, how about we start with prohibiting all federal funding of abortion? That’s a far cry from overturning Roe v. Wade, but it’s a start. And, by the way — contrary to the EMILY’s List scare tactics — a Speaker John Boehner wouldn’t have the power to do that even if he wanted to.
People are fed up with the scare tactics, because they are genuinely concerned about the future of their country….
Read the full piece here.