Bob SparksThe first debate among the top 10 Republican candidates is set for prime time on Thursday. Debate is not the right word.
Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, Scott Walker and other contenders will basically play to the base. Some will try to look presentable to independents at the same time. Most of us have no earthly idea what Donald Trump is going to do.
Candidates will submit to questions from Fox News commentators Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly and Chris Wallace. We can expect queries on the Iran nuclear deal, the budget, spending, entitlement reform, education and Trump’s current lofty position among others.
An issue Republicans traditionally try to avoid like the plague is also destined to come front and center. With the recent Planned Parenthood videos and the resurrected effort to end federal funding for the organization, there is no question the politics of abortion could create major headlines in Cleveland.
The firestorm comes at a time when polls show the pro-choice position holding a small lead over the pro-life position for the first time in seven years. A Gallup poll released in late May showed 50 percent favoring pro-choice and 44 percent supporting pro-life.
That may come as a surprise to most Americans. Not that pro-choice is the current view of a majority, but it is that close.
Twenty years ago, Gallup showed a 56-33 margin for pro-choice. Republican candidates and party spokespeople knew to talk about almost any issue, but not abortion.
Then the gap began to narrow. By 2008, polls showed a 50-50 split and by 2009, the pro-life position held a 50-41 lead. According to Gallup, pro-life either led or was tied until this year’s poll. Revelations of the slaughters in the office of Dr. Kermit Gosnell in 2011 certainly hurt the pro-choice cause.
Since that news, the pendulum had swung back to pro-choice earlier this year. Then the Planned Parenthood videos came out. It’s very likely public opinion is swinging back to pro-life again.
The pro-choice movement does not grow when the grisly details of abortion are made known. Some people can support unfettered abortion no matter what, but others tend to get a bit squeamish when they learn the details of the procedure.
A video of Planned Parenthood representatives discussing a marketplace for aborted baby tissue does not sit well with uninvolved, yet compassionate individuals. The facts are the same whether the message is delivered through an edited video or when viewed in its entirety.
“A tipping point may have been reached, however, as people recoil from that which cannot be denied,” wrote Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Kathleen Parker of The Washington Post. “Where once many could avert our eyes from the details of abortion, the details are now all we see and, thanks to the videos, hear.”
For those who would dismiss Parker as a “conservative columnist,” read the body of her work. She sometimes drives conservatives crazy.
The Planned Parenthood debacle has emboldened Republicans to discuss abortion again. They can take strong stands knowing they are in the majority when the issue is presented in the manner displayed on the videos.
They can take the opportunity to discuss Hillary Clinton’s statement describing the videos as “disturbing.” Is she disturbed by the content of the videos or the method by which the damning, cold-hearted quotes were obtained?
Planned Parenthood Federation of America President Cecile Richards makes her views clear in a Washington Post op-ed. These videos, she said, are nothing more than “an attack on women.” Richards, the daughter of former Texas Gov. Ann Richards, added “(t)he most recent attacks in this decades-long campaign represent a new low.”
The matter of defunding Planned Parenthood has numerous tentacles. For example, would GOP candidates take the issue to the mat even if the government would be “shut down” if Democrats did not agree with this single funding line item?
Rubio has already said no. What say the others? Bush is certainly pro-life. Carson was a pediatric surgeon. The nation awaits Trump’s solution.
Will any of them suggest viable alternatives for Planned Parenthood should taxpayer dollars be withheld?
Thursday’s forum will produce some memorable moments. The discussion among Republicans talking openly about abortion will certainly be one of them.
Bob Sparks is a business and political consultant based in Tallahassee. Column courtesy of Context Florida.
