Abortion Court Ruling Propels Issue Back Into Political Agenda

Apr. 20, 2007 — -- The political reaction to Wednesday's Supreme Court decision on a specific type of late-term abortion was swift and predictable, with '08 Democratic presidential candidates lining up against the decision and GOP candidates supporting it.

The abortion issue has featured prominently in presidential election campaigns since 1980, when GOP candidate Ronald Reagan mobilized it with his pledge to appoint anti-abortion justices to the bench.

But will abortion politics make a difference in 2008?

"This decision has cast a spotlight on the abortion issue that wasn't there the day before," said David Masci of the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

"The question really is whether this spotlight will still be there when the candidates are campaigning in the primaries and all the way through the general election," he said.

Masci points out that abortion is traditionally not one of the top issues in national elections.

However, abortion groups on both sides of the issue agree that the Supreme Court decision has emboldened opponents of abortion rights to push for greater restrictions, and that could raise the profile of the issue.

Hours after the decision, an Alabama state legislator introduced a bill that would ban the majority of abortions.

States such as South Carolina, Missouri, Texas, Georgia, North Dakota have also considered anti-abortion rights legislation.

"It is just a matter of time before the infamous Roe v. Wade decision of 1973 will also be struck down by the Court," said Roberta Combs, president of the Christian Coalition of America in a statement.

Abortion rights advocates say this week's Supreme Court decision highlights the stakes in the 2008 presidential election.

"Elections matter," said Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America of Washington, D.C., said.

"An anti-choice Congress and an anti-choice president pushed this ban all the way to the Supreme Court," said Keenan.

The fate of the landmark 1973 Supreme Court Roe v. Wade decision may rest with whoever the next president appoints to the bench.

Two more liberally minded justices may have only a few more years left on the bench.

One of the dissenters in Wednesday's 5-4 Supreme Court decision was Justice John Paul Stevens, who celebrated his 87th birthday Friday. Another dissenter, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, is the next oldest justice, at 74.

Political observers said the new reality of abortion politics may force the 2008 presidential candidates to get more specific in their positions.

"Candidates may be forced to be more clear and unambiguous about their views on abortion," said David Masci of the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

"This sort of triangulating that the candidates have done in the past will be much harder to do," Masci said, pointing to comments by Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.

Clinton said abortion rights are protected by the Constitution but raised liberal eyebrows after she called abortion a "tragic choice" in 2005.

Wednesday, Clinton said in a statement, "This decision marks a dramatic departure from four decades of Supreme Court rulings that upheld a woman's right to choose and recognized the importance of women's health."

Former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., won praise from abortion-rights groups this week when Kate Michelman, a longtime president of the pro-abortion rights group NARAL Pro-Choice, joined his campaign as an adviser.

"This hard right turn is a stark reminder of why Democrats cannot afford to lose the 2008 election," Edwards said in a statement this week. "The ban upheld by the Court is an ill-considered and sweeping prohibition that does not even take into account serious threats to the health of individual women."

Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, a Democratic '08 presidential candidate, said the Supreme Court's ruling departs from previous precedents that safeguarded the health of pregnant women.

"This ruling signals an alarming willingness on the part of the conservative majority to disregard its prior rulings respecting a woman's medical concerns and the very personal decisions between a doctor and patient," Obama said in a statement. Political observers said social issues -- such as abortion and gay marriage -- have been increasingly used by politicians in election campaigns to mobilize "values voters."

"The Christian conservatives and evangelicals have been particularly important voting blocs in Republican primaries," said Masci.

Republican candidate and former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani previously supported abortion rights but recently said he "hates" abortion.

Wednesday, Giuliani agreed with the Supreme Court's decision banning late-term abortions, issuing a terse, two-word statement that read "The Supreme Court reached the correct conclusion in upholding the congressional ban on 'partial birth' abortion. I agree with it."

Former Massachusetts Gov. and GOP candidate Mitt Romney has done the most public about-face on the abortion issue, recently changing his mind on the subject and no longer supporting abortion rights.

"Today our nation's highest court reaffirmed the value of life in America by upholding a ban on a practice that offends basic human decency," read a statement released by Romney. "This decision represents a step forward in protecting the weakest and most innocent among us."

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has been a long opponent of abortion rights and boasts a zero percent rating from NARAL Pro-Choice.

However, his hasn't been a favorite of the most conservative wing of the Republican Party.

McCain characterized the ruling as a "victory for those who cherish the sanctity of life and integrity of the judiciary."

"The ruling ensures that an unacceptable and unjustifiable practice will not be carried out on our innocent children," read McCain's statement.