Extremities and Enormities

Which party is more “extreme” on abortion?

(National Review Online) - The conjunction of the Todd Akin controversy with the Republican-platform hearings has enabled the media to follow one of its favorite scripts: My, aren’t those Republicans extreme on abortion.

The unshocking truth is that the Republicans are indeed to the right of public opinion on abortion, as the Democrats are to its left. The distance between the Democrats and the median voter on the issue is not a subject on which journalists in Washington, D.C., or New York City dwell much, because they themselves tend to be rather closer to the former.

Reporting on this gap might require, for example, explaining what the Supreme Court has actually held about abortion: that it is a constitutional right that cannot be effectively prohibited at any stage of pregnancy for any reason. The Court has held that abortion must always be available, even late in pregnancy, when it would serve a woman’s “emotional” or “familial” health.