In an op-ed titled "Why Pro-Choice is a Bad Choice for Democrats," Ms. Henneberger, a former Times reporter who spent 18 months interviewing women in 20 states writes that most women--especially most Catholic women--who voted for Al Gore in 2000 but against John Kerry in 2004 did so because of President Bush's strong pro-life convictions, manifested in his promise (kept) to appoint "strict constructionist" judges to the Supreme Court. She points out, also, that in a recent New York Times/CBS poll, 64 percent of respondents favored more curbs on abortion. Yet to hear insular Democratic Party leaders tell it, to oppose any restrictions on abortion rights is the mark of an "extremist."
Don't count Republicans out in 2008, Ms. Henneberger warns, as long as Democrats keep handing them the abortion issue--and a passel of votes.