On how to make abortion rights a winning issue

So I’m late at getting to this. A few days ago, the NY Times had an atrocious Op-Ed about how the pro-choice position will only hurt Democrats. There’s a lot to criticize. Amanda has a great write-up. And here is some factual debunking. But here’s a passage that I haven’t seen anyone address:

Most Americans fall somewhere between the extremes of “never” and “no problem” when it comes to abortion.

What polling can’t capture and politicians won’t hear is the voice of the nun I interviewed who considers herself pro-choice — and has been disciplined by her diocese as a result — because she does not think abortion is wrong for rape victims. Or the voices of the many women I spoke to who hold far more expansive views yet call themselves pro-life. Most people differentiate between a fetus in the early weeks of development and at nearly full term, and draw the line at a procedure that Democratic Senator Pat Moynihan regarded as infanticide.

If this is true– and I think all of us here have personally met and been frustrated with someone who holds a variation of these particular views– the answer is not to back down or roll over or admit that their opinions are equally rational, as Henneberger suggests. I don’t think that support for abortion is a losing position, but I personally believe that these “middle of the road” voters really do exist. And they are in fact an issue for the Democratic party, and for the future or reproductive rights. This is a result of the smear campaign against abortion that has been waged by the Republican party in this country since Reagan.

The answer is not only to fight back, but to educate. The fact that so many people think abortion is okay “in some circumstances” and not in others is a fact we need to fight with knowledge. We need to fight rhetoric with rhetoric. We need politicians to openly explain to the public why pitting abortion patients against each other is bad for everyone. We need to openly discuss the fact that one-third of American women will have an abortion. For those who oppose late-term abortions, we need to discuss not only the fact that almost 90% of abortions take place before the first trimester ends, but why those rare late-term abortions that occur do occur, and what we’d be risking it outlawing them.

We’ve allowed the Republican party to hijack this issue and lie about it for too long. What happened to the days when politicians didn’t just spout slogans, but had real conversations with voters, told them hard truths and actually discussed facts? That is what we need right now, is some candidness. Otherwise, the liars are going to win.