Will Abortion Cloud Iowa Governor's Race?
There was a David Yepsen editorial
in the Des Moines Register today that I think is worth a little
discussion. The title: “Will Abortion Cloud Blouin's Run
For Governor?”
By most normal measurements, Mike Blouin ought to be a perfect Democratic candidate for governor of Iowa.
He's
a former member of the Iowa House and the Iowa Senate from Dubuque.
He's a former member of Congress from northeast Iowa. He's run the
chambers of commerce in Iowa's two largest cities, Des Moines and Cedar
Rapids.
He's
served as state economic development director during some good economic
times. He's got a gregarious personality, good connections, and has
been a deacon in the Roman Catholic Church for almost 20 years.
Trouble is, he's a pro-lifer.
And the Democratic Party is decidedly pro-choice.
Blouin goes on to tell Yepsen this view of governance:
“If it's contradictory to Roe V. Wade, I think I've got an obligation to uphold the Constitution” and veto it. He
added: “If I can leave a mark, I'd like to create an environment where
the need for abortion gradually disappears. Then you've accomplished
the same thing” as enacting a legal ban on the practice.
But
on other issues, he said “if bills are passed that come to me I'll look
at them from the perspective of someone who is pro-life and if it's
constitutional, I'll be inclined to be supportive of it. If it's not, I
don't believe in putting the state through the futility of a process in
court that has no meaning at all.”
I agree
wholeheartedly with that philosophy. In my somewhat limited time
in the Iowa political scene I have never met anyone who believes in
driving up the abortion rate. I do know that the decisions
involved are literally life changing, and I am very fortunate to never
have personally faced those types of decisions.
I
believe that if we eliminate – as a society – the uncertainty and fear
of being unable to support a child financially or emotionally, abortion
will become almost non-existant outside of health and safety issues.
Having
said that, it would be a mistake to look at voting for a governor based
strictly on the issue of abortion. Iowa has many, many
other issues that must be addressed – primarily economic issues,
quality of life issues, and the issue of just what Iowa's future should
look like. If the 2006 election becomes a culture war election –
Iowa's citizens will lose.
I have
my own reasons for opposing Blouin in a primary election (primarily the
use of the “Iowa Values Fund”): Blouin's labeled “pro-life”
stance is not among them.
This is obviously a tough issue – and I welcome your comments.
Blog For Iowa 
Another great thought-provoking post, Chad! Let me be the first to comment.
I guess it comes down to whom will the progressives support? Some of us see the abortion issue in terms of a woman's right to control her own body as opposed to Big Brother's controlling it. For these people, it's a fundamental issue, an issue that defines how a candidate views women, in general, and on the broader spectrum, how the candidate views human rights. These are the progessive activists who hope the candidate wins but who will not participate in electing him/her. It happened in a close Iowa senatorial race last year, and our guy – a strong progressive – lost. Might he have won if the progressive community had been out there fighting for him big time? Who knows. But it couldn't have hurt.
Then there are the progressives who take a more practical approach. You will rarely find any one candidate who is perfect, so they work to elect a pro-lifer because the alternative is so horrible.
I've been on both sides of this fence and it is STILL an issue I struggle with immensely. It gets to the heart and soul of everything a progressive believes and will never be a small issue.
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I think it would be great if more women were in control of their bodies. Can you please stop the constant skin shows? And how about stop posing for all those porn pics and porn cams? And if more of you gals would control yourselves by holding a dime between your knees that would be excellant. As for those 1750 women a day who are murdered who is looking out for their rights? Certainly not the abortion mills.
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I think it would be great if more women were in control of their bodies. Can you please stop the constant skin shows? And how about stop posing for all those porn pics and porn cams? And if more of you gals would control yourselves by holding a dime between your knees that would be excellant. As for those 1750 women a day who are murdered who is looking out for their rights? Certainly not the abortion mills.
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