Re-framing the "moral" issues

[kentuck]

Rather than talking about the act of "abortion", perhaps we should talk about the role of women in our society? Do we think our sisters and mothers are equal to ourselves? Do we think they are protected by the Constitution of the United States? Should they have the same individual rights as you and I ?

If you answer affirmatively to all of the above, where do you draw the line with abortion or even, partial birth abortion? Does the women lose her individual right to choose to give birth or not, in other words, does she lose her Constitutional right that you just said she had, to the "rights" of a fetus - a potential human being?

Who would tell their mother or sister that they are equal but only up to a certain point. Once they become pregnant, they no longer have "equal" rights to the rest of us. They must submit their rights to their fetus. Either the woman has equal rights to a man or she does not. Which is it?

The Democratic Party has chosen the position of equality and Contitutional rights for the woman to choose. The right to make her own decision, the same as you and I. The Republican Party would deny her that right.

The same standard applies with the mis-named "partial birth abortion" issue. If the woman's life is threatened, does she have the right to abort? If her life is not threatened, does she have the right to abort? Is it her body or does her body belong to all of us - the government? The Democratic Party has taken the position of "individual rights" in regards to the abortion issue. That does not mean we support abortion or "partial-birth abortion". It means we recognize the equality of women to control the decisions over their own bodies.

The Democratic Party understands better than the Republican Party that we are all equal and should have the same rights as guaranteed under the Constitution. At the same time, the Party understand the historic meaning of marriage in our society. That is why John Kerry and other Democrats did not publically support the gay-marriage initiative. However, that does not mean that gays should not have the same rights as you or I. A gay man can still marry a lesbian, according to the rules of our society.

However, the Party recognizes that gay people that have lived together their entire lives and love one another should not be denied the right to visit each other in the hospital or the right to put their partner on their insurance plan or the right to inherit property, etc. That is why the Party has supported "civil unions" as a compromise to this complex issue. The Republican Party chooses to divide our nation for political purposes. Our Party chooses to recognize the basic civil rights of all our citizens. It is the Democratic Party, although imperfect, that has taken the moral side of these issues and still stood up for the basic civil rights and individual rights of our fellow citizens.