If you weren't paying close enough attention over break, you might have missed an interesting piece of news from the statehouse.
Early this month, Rep. Troy Woodruff, a Republican from Vincennes, filed a bill that would ban abortion in the state and make performing a pregnancy termination a felony punishable with up to eight years in prison. The bill does include an exemption if the health of the mother is in danger.
Putting personal opinions about abortion aside, how stupid is the bill? Is it stupid from a monetary standpoint? If this bill overcomes the odds and somehow passes, it will undoubtedly be challenged in court. The state would then have to spend boatloads of taxpayer money to defend the law, which is unlikely to withstand a legal challenge anyway. Personally, I can think of several better things to spend money on than frivolous court costs.
Woodruff could be hoping the Supreme Court might be willing to reverse Roe v. Wade with the new Chief Justice and the potential addition of Samuel Alito. However, expecting a reversal would be guaranteed is very unwise. Personally, I feel this is just an attempt for Woodruff to pander to his base by portraying himself as an arch social conservative while gaining some publicity at the same time.
I also think the bill is stupid from a political standpoint. As it stands now, the Republican Party is a mesh of social conservatives and financial conservatives. The financial conservative wing of the GOP generally could care less about outlawing abortion and gay marriage, while the priorities of the social conservative factions are: not slashing taxes for the top 1% and keeping the minimum wage to a paltry $5.15 per hour. Yet somehow, these two groups united to form the odd couple that is the modern Republican Party. All it might take is an event like the reversal of Roe v. Wade to splinter that coalition.
The bill in question has not even been assigned to a committee, yet it is already creating waves in the state GOP. House Speaker Brian Bosma said that he would personally support the bill, while Gov. Mitch Daniels was cool on the issue, saying the bill had a "very limited prospect of ultimate success." I always did figure "My Man Mitch" would be looking out for the upper class first and fetuses second.
If you think a vote on abortion would be a tough issue for Democrats to contend with, just think what could happen to the Republican Party if abortion is outlawed.
It's hard to gauge how prevalent viewpoints that come from people who are opposed to abortion are within the Republican Party, but there is a national organization calling itself "The Republican Majority for Choice." If Roe v. Wade is overturned, suddenly many of those suburban "security moms" who voted for Bush in 2004 might not be too happy to find out their 15-year-old daughters cannot legally terminate unwanted pregnancies. And how will the fiscal conservatives feel when they hear the first news report of a young girl dying in a basement after enduring an illegal abortion? Even worse for the GOP, incumbent Republicans might find out that all those single-issue voters who are in favor of abortion might not be as enthusiastic about voting Republican and donating to the party after their goals have been accomplished.
Republicans shouldn't be too scared, though. If abortion somehow becomes a nonissue, there are always gays to hassle and religion to force upon public school children.
Sources used:
- The GOP's Roe Gamble
- Bill would ban abortion in Indiana
- GOP divided on anti-abortion bill
- About Us (The Republican Majority for Choice)
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