Not Dead Yet

NOBODY told the losers outside the clinics, but the abortion wars are over. The Republican party is in danger of becoming “operationally pro-choice,” laments pro-life journalist Fred Barnes. Jim Pinkerton, a pro-choice Republican who writes often on the baleful influence of social conservatives on his party, is positively gleeful that the GOP has finally taken his advice and become “functionally pro- choice.”

Both point to the presidential primary race as evidence. George W. Bush has declared that a sweeping ban on abortions is unattainable. Elizabeth Dole says that even talking about a ban would merely extend a “dead-end debate.” John McCain wants to revise the party platform to make it clear “to young women in this country who may have a disagreement with us on the issue of abortion” that “there’s room for all of us in our party.” John Kasich suggests that pro-life Republicans “lower the volume” on the debate over abortion. The “underlying message,” according to Christopher Caldwell, is that these are pro-lifers “you can vote for without fear that your abortion rights will be curtailed.” Says the columnist Charles Krauthammer, “The great abortion debate is over.”

About the Author

Ramesh Ponnuru

Ramesh Ponnuru is the editor of National Review, a columnist for the Washington Post, and a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

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Presidential Election

NOBODY told the losers outside the clinics, but the abortion wars are over. The Republican party is in danger of becoming “operationally pro-choice,” laments pro-life journalist Fred Barnes. Jim Pinkerton, a pro-choice Republican who writes often on the baleful influence of social conservatives on his party, is positively gleeful that the GOP has finally taken his advice and become “functionally pro- choice.”

Both point to the presidential primary race as evidence. George W. Bush has declared that a sweeping ban on abortions is unattainable. Elizabeth Dole says that even talking about a ban would merely extend a “dead-end debate.” John McCain wants to revise the party platform to make it clear “to young women in this country who may have a disagreement with us on the issue of abortion” that “there’s room for all of us in our party.” John Kasich suggests that pro-life Republicans “lower the volume” on the debate over abortion. The “underlying message,” according to Christopher Caldwell, is that these are pro-lifers “you can vote for without fear that your abortion rights will be curtailed.” Says the columnist Charles Krauthammer, “The great abortion debate is over.”