An interesting editorial from the Union Leader in New Hampshire:

There was a lot of buzz in the press last week about the Democratic Party's revised platform statment on abortion. Don't get too excited. The revision means nothing. The party's platform is still vehemently pro-abortion.

The newly added sentence reads: "The Democratic Party also strongly supports a woman's decision to have a child."
Well, great. The party, of course, never opposed women having children. The line is a meaningless statement crafted to fool pro-life moderates (yes, they exist). But the sentence that precedes the pro-motherhood statement is the one that reflects the party's real position on abortion. It reads:

"The Democratic Party strongly and unequivocally supports Roe v. Wade and a woman's right to choose a safe and legal abortion, regardless of ability to pay, and we oppose any and all efforts to weaken or undermine that right."

The "regardless of ability to pay" phrase means that the party officially supports taxpayer-funded abortions. That means forcing pro-lifers to pay for a procedure they consider abhorent.

That sentence is, as Judith Warner of The New York Times put it last week, "arguably, the most powerful statement in favor of abortion rights that the party has ever made."

So don't be fooled. The Democratic Party is no more pro-life than it has ever been. It actually is less so. Gone from the platform is the Bill Clinton reference to making abortions "safe, legal, and rare." This newly beefed up pro-abortion sentiment is reflected not only in the party platform, but in the presumptive presidential nominee's position. Sen. Barack Obama is even more radical than Sen. Barbara Boxer and other famed pro-abortion Democrats. He opposes even laws that would make it illegal to kill or let die a baby who survives an abortion.

Meanwhile, on the Republican side, Sen. John McCain actually did take a step toward the middle last week when he indicated he might pick a pro-choice running mate.

It is hard to think of a worse mistake McCain could make in selecting a vice presidential candidate. McCain has been a stalwart pro-lifer his whole career. It is one of the few bona fides he has with social conservatives. Throwing that away by picking a pro-choice running mate would virtually guarantee an Obama victory in November. Probably hundreds of thousands of social conservatives would give up and stay home.

A lot of people say there is no difference between the two major parties these days. But there is. Abortion is the most pronounced of them. The Democrats are solidifying their stance as the pro-abortion party. Republicans mustn't weaken their position as the party that strongly stands for protecting the lives of the most defenseless of us all.

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