[...] Perhaps by ignoring or infantilizing women, turning them into "victims" of their own free will. State statutes that propose punishing only a physician suggest the woman was merely some addled bystander who happened to find herself in the wrong stirrups at the wrong time. Such a view seemed to be a vestige of the past until the Supreme Court handed down its most recent abortion decision upholding a federal prohibition on a specific procedure. Justice Anthony Kennedy, obviously feeling excessively paternal, argued that the ban protected women from themselves. "While we find no reliable data to measure the phenomenon," he wrote, "it seems unexceptionable to conclude some women come to regret their choice to abort the infant life they once created and sustained."

[snip]

Those ancient notions undergird the refusal to confront the logical endpoint of criminalization.

These are issues that don't just divide along party lines. In 2004 there were people who didn't just vote for George Bush, they voted against John Kerry. These voters -- some lifelong Democrats -- voted for Gore in 2000, yet in a critical election, the Republicans were able to swing their vote. Why? because politics is personal.

In order to stem the impact of the Religious Right in the area of women's rights, we have to "frame" the issues.

How much time should she do?

This is to become the centerpiece of a new education campaign by the National Institute for Reproductive Health, and is a very honest question. If abortion is "recriminalized" by the Supreme Court, then what is the penalty? Is it fair to punish a doctor for performing a procedure that was requested by a patient. Doesn't the patient bear some responsibility for the decision?

It is naive at best to think there are simple paths to "compromise" on "moral" issues. There is no "Leave it to Beaver" solution. We have to be pragmatic in how we view the problems and the solutions to the problems.

Having Mother at home baking cookies is not going to prevent Wallie from experimenting with sex, but a condom in his wallet might help prevent Wallie from becoming Father before he's ready.

Teenagers have sex because they can, not because their parents are divorced, or they are depressed, or they are doing drugs. Teenagers have sex because they are biologically ready. Or someone near them sees coerceable prey.