Kevin Drum writes, “Ponnuru is right: if abortion is murder, then anyone who gets an abortion should be jailed. Anybody who performs an abortion should be put on death row. Anybody who supports abortion rights is little better than a mobster or a terrorist. But if that’s what [pro-lifers] believe — and they do — why does he think it’s unwise to admit it in public? The question answers itself, doesn’t it?”

It’s always nice to hear that others think that I’m right about something. But I can’t be right to hold beliefs that I don’t actually hold. I do not believe that it follows from the homicidal nature of abortion that anyone who procures one must go to jail. (I’ve explained myself a little further on this point here.) I do not believe that it follows that anyone who commits an abortion should be on death row. I do not believe that anyone who supports abortion is little better than a mobster or a terrorist. I am quite certain that most pro-lifers do not believe any of these propositions, either.

It is true that I believe that pro-lifers should generally pick those true arguments at their disposal that are best calculated to win legal protection for the unborn, not those true arguments that are likely to repel people who are otherwise open to persuasion. I don’t fault people on the other side of the debate from choosing their public arguments on the same basis. Everyone involved in practical politics does this, and should.