Third Way Dispatch

Today is Groundhog Day – which always reminds me of that fabulous but freakish flick in which Bill Murray wakes up again and again to the exact same day.

Today, though my alarm clock didn’t play “I Got You Babe,” I still feel a lot like that guy in the movie.

Remember last year, when South Dakota passed a ban on abortions with a jail sentence for doctors in non-compliance? Governor Rounds signed it into law, but the pro-choice community challenged it through a 2006 ballot initiative, and the voters struck it down 56%-44%.

Well it’s back.

That is, this week, some legislators in South Dakota re-introduced a ban on abortions. It still carries a jail sentence for doctors who violate the ban. It still looks like it’s got the votes to pass the state senate. And Mike Rounds is still the governor.

But like Bill Murray’s character eventually learned to play piano, the banners in SD may be learning too – this time, the ban includes exceptions for rape, incest and (devastating and irreversible) health consequences for the woman, on top of the previously existing life endangerment exception. Another difference is that this year’s version of the ban has doubled non-compliant doctors’ jail sentence from 5 to 10 years.

The problem for the bill’s opponents is that they defeated the bill last year in large part based on their argument that the bill went too far by not including a rape and incest exception. That argument is now gone.

Last year, Third Way advised progressives that the abortion ban presented a unique opportunity to reframe the abortion debate. We recommended using the moment to announce our commitment to reducing the number of abortions in America, while preserving individual liberties. Progressives, we urged, must commit to reducing abortions through policies that prevent unintended pregnancies (which lead to abortion), support women once they become pregnant, and strengthen families. The federal Ryan-DeLauro Reducing the Need for Abortion and Supporting Parents Act, is a good example of the right approach. We also recommended that progressives define supporters of the bill as those seeking to criminalize abortion and put people in prison.

Today, we recommend that same messaging – but even more urgently. This position’s strength does not rest on whether or not a legislature amends its bill to add in rape and incest exceptions. Rather, it comes from the commitment it declares, as well as its deep resonance with most Americans. Reducing the number of abortions in America is the right thing to do – no one, whether they are pro-choice or pro-life, boasts about our country’s 1.3 million annual abortions. And so is preserving the core and defining American value of personal liberty.

The approach we lay out, in the words of columnist E.J. Dionne, “seeks practical forms of moral seriousness” and hence is a step towards our “highest calling” on this divisive issue. By contrast, supporters of the bill are approaching the goal of reducing abortions the wrong way – by putting people in jail and undermining fundamental personal liberties.

Third Way’s summer 2006 national poll confirmed that the majority of Americans support the goal of reducing abortions while protecting personal liberties. (61%-37%). Notably, the “Abortion Grays” (the 62% of respondents who are in the middle on abortion and think either that abortion should be mostly legal or mostly illegal) overwhelmingly support the goal (79%-20%). Similarly, nearly 70% of respondents, including 70% of Abortion Grays, oppose abortion laws that would put people in jail. Prison just goes too far. See A New Direction on Abortion for Progressives: Winning the Battle of Reasonableness.

My hope is that we can break free from this cycle by next year’s Groundhog Day. We can and must win on this issue with greater permanence and the right way – by clearly presenting South Dakotans with the following choice: reduce abortions through prevention and support or ban abortion and put people in jail.