From Washington Straight: Abortion Battles

The Eastern Seaboard press has scarcely acknowledged the modest but real impact of the right-to-life movement on the elections just past and the role of those returns in triggering legislative and court actions for 1983. The East Coast Fourth Estate takes pleasure in pointing out that pro-lifers failed to defeat a single pro-abortion senator. What it chooses to ignore, however, is that no incumbent right-tolife senator lost his seat in the election, and, beyond that, three candidates were thrown lifelines (as it were) by the prolifers, while three others were helped marginally by their public anti-abortion positions. Mercifully, the press elsewhere in the country was more objective.

Take Minnesota Republican David Durenberger’s re-election to the Senate. In its post-election analysis, the Minneapolis Star Tribune noted that Durenberger’s opponent was “too young and too rich” and, “most important, he was not against abortion.” The abortion issue reportedly affected one out of four votes, Minnesota having the strongest right-to-life committee in the nation.

The Eastern Seaboard press has scarcely acknowledged the modest but real impact of the right-to-life movement on the elections just past and the role of those returns in triggering legislative and court actions for 1983. The East Coast Fourth Estate takes pleasure in pointing out that pro-lifers failed to defeat a single pro-abortion senator. What it chooses to ignore, however, is that no incumbent right-tolife senator lost his seat in the election, and, beyond that, three candidates were thrown lifelines (as it were) by the prolifers, while three others were helped marginally by their public anti-abortion positions. Mercifully, the press elsewhere in the country was more objective.

Take Minnesota Republican David Durenberger’s re-election to the Senate. In its post-election analysis, the Minneapolis Star Tribune noted that Durenberger’s opponent was “too young and too rich” and, “most important, he was not against abortion.” The abortion issue reportedly affected one out of four votes, Minnesota having the strongest right-to-life committee in the nation.