Re: Americans on social issues: split the difference
On Aug 8, 2006, at 5:57 PM, Wojtek Sokolowski wrote:
What exactly is a “middle ground” or “compromise” on abortion - that abortion is “partially” legal? Or that someone should get only “a
little bit pregnant”?
The middle ground is that abortion should be legal - and moral -
“under some circumstances,” which usu means rape/incest or preserving
the life of the mother. Merely not wanting a child isn’t enough -
other polls rank that somewhere around suicide, ethically speaking.
This is related to Alan Wolfe’s observation that the default position
of the American middle class is ambivalence. On a controversial topic
like abortion, this really kicks in. Problem is that as the right
manages to push the law in a more restrictive direction, the
“compromise” position moves right too.
As I recall, the high point for public tolerance of abortion was
around 1996; it’s moved in a more restrictive direction since.
Doug