It really is, essentially, all about abortion

[mudesi]

I implore anyone here to find me a pro choice Republican. As we know, there are plenty of pro life Democrats, pro life progressives, and pro life liberals. They range from extreme to moderate, with every shade of grey in between.

There are liberals, progressives, Democrats, so called "moderates" who want abortion illegal in all cases, including rape and incest, there ar those who are okay with it being legal, but want regulation, like parental notification or banning it by the third trimester, etcetera.

But in my experience - and this is only my experience - Republicans and conservatives are staunchly pro life, with the only (very rare) concession made being that abortion should only be legal in the case where the life of the mother is at jeopardy. I have never, in my life, met someone who identifies as "conservative" who was in any way close to pro choice.

It is a completely black and white issue for them, and they will vote for a moron, a warmonger, a criminal, a corporate fascist, take your pick - As long as he or she is pro life.

Again, that's what I have encountered from any of the conservatives I've ever met. I wonder if anybody else here has met a pro choice Republican/conservative. Because over the years I have become increasingly convinced that the abortion issue really is the root of it all.

They'll talk about how they believe in small government, or capitalism, or low taxation, or capital punishment, or gay marriage, or any other number of conservative stances on the issues. But in the end, at the very core of every single one of them, it's all abortion.

Be honest: Do you personally know a conservative who will vote for a politician who is pro capitalism, small government, anti gay marriage, pro capital punishment, but also pro choice? I don't.

[FLAprogressive]

1. Well a few House Repubs are pro-choice but...

...most of them are also pro-gay marriage.

[HockeyMom]

2. My husband is a pro choice republican

He is what used to be called a Rockefeller Republican. He is generally socially moderate to liberal. Yes, he is also pro gay marriage and not religious at all. He thinks "his" party has been hijacked by the religious right wing "nut cases" as he calls them.

A fairly large number of NE Republicans are pro choice. Some are also pro gay marriage.

[ismnotwasm]

3. Forced birth

Is what they are and what they promote. It's not about loving life. According to most Republicans, if I somehow became pregnant at 48--I'm still quite capable-- as the primary household earner with a husband disabled by MS, I should be forced, FORCED, by law, to carry a pregnancy to term. The only republicans I know who are pro-choice, are more Libertarian in my view--although they don't call themselves that-- and tend to be socially liberal anyway. They call themselves republicans because of tax and profit desires.

It makes me sick. Actually, sick isn't even the word, somewhere beyond complete disgust and loathing of people who even think like that.

[MrScorpio]

4. Prevent abortions...

Don't prohibit them

[Mari333]

5. abortion, gays and guns.

thats what seems to propel people to vote republican in my bio family. even tho , at one time, the family were union democrats, back in the 50s, they changed.civil rights issues also changed their allegiance back then. they were for the working man getting fair wages, etc etc, but when it came to their hiearcheal status being challenged as white people, that didnt bode well to them.
I have tried to wrap my mind around the whys of all this, I suppose all i can come up with is that they are fearful of status quo change. They were raised with very strict roles that everyone was supposed to play, and they didnt like those roles being changed.
I have tried to explain to them that abortion would be LESS if people had decent wages and good jobs and availability to decent health care and birth control , but they would have none of it. again, it became an issue of uppity women, uppity blacks, uppity anyone who changed the dynamics of the societal order.
I tried to explain to a 30 yr old young man who lives in my town what I knew of gay folks when I was a kid. Nothing. as far as small town america was concerned, gay folks didnt exist. If they did , in some odd fashion, it was Liberace and thats it. or Jack Benny feigning some hand motion. Nothing more. It was kept out of the public eye that is for sure. Unless you lived in Greenwich village , you never heard of it.
as for guns, I grew up with them, and I know of many dems who have them, I just find it odd that so many republicans think dems are so anti gun. I dont have one, but they dont bother me one way or the other. I think they are overrated as a mechanism for machismo, but my dad used his to hunt squirrels to eat or he didnt eat. I am a vegan, so its a moot point for me now.
have you read Whats the Matter with Kansas? good book about how so many people vote republican against their own best interests.

[LBJDemocrat]

6. I work with a pro-choice Republican. nt