Democrats Are “Pro-Choice” on Abortion, But Little Else

Opinion   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Jul 20, 2011   |   7:11PM   |   Washington, DC

The age-old mantra of supporting “choice” rather than abortion has been one that has frustrated pro-life advocates for years — as if destroying the life of a human being is a choice on the same moral level as what dinner entree to select at a restaurant.

Deroy Murdock, a Scripps Howard News Service columnist and fellow with the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, has a new opinion column pointing out the hypocrisy of this thinking.

Murdock ticks off a couple of recent legislative items in Congress to show the duplicity of this pro-choice stance — supporting “choice” on abortion but not on other political topics. Murdock’s conclusion is right on:  choice is merely a code phrase that is used to make the appearance of supporting unlimited abortion on demand not look so bad.

 

Almost unanimously, Washington Democrats call themselves “pro-choice.” “I support a woman’s right to choose!” they thunder. “Choice,” of course, means abortion, and that is where the Democrats’ passion for choice starts and stops.

Elsewhere, Democrats sabotage a woman’s right to choose. Instead, they demand to make that choice for her, as they do for men.

I support a woman’s right to choose whether or not to use a traditional Thomas Alva Edison incandescent bulb. Democrats disagree.

The House of Representatives voted July 12 on a measure to repeal federal regulations that effectively criminalize sales of Edison’s bulb. According to Freedom Action’s Myron Ebell, violators face a federal penalty of $200 per offending bulb sold.

Among 239 Republicans, 228 (or 95 percent) voted to liberate women (and men) so that they could choose among inexpensive incandescents, pricier LEDs, compact fluorescents (tainted with toxic mercury), and even candles. (Five thinking Democrats supported the GOP majority.) Candles average 15,260 home fires and 166 attendant fatalities annually, the National Fire Protection Association reports. Yet candles remain legal.

Among 192 Democrats, 183 voted to deny a woman this choice, echoing President Barack Obama’s veto threat….

I support a woman’s right to choose whether or not to buy health insurance under ObamaCare. Congressional Democrats disagree. They voted in near lockstep last year to compel women (and men) to participate in ObamaCare. Without exception, Republicans opposed ObamaCare and its individual mandate.

I support a woman’s right to choose to send her child to an alternative school that accepts educational vouchers. Unfortunately, Washington Democrats disagree. A federal initiative gave roughly 3,000 students vouchers worth up to $7,500 to escape Washington’s calamitous government schools. Despite promising results, teachers unions detested this program.

So, after Obama took charge, congressional Democrats swiftly killed it. Never mind the choices of the poor, mainly black mothers whose kids these vouchers benefited. Fortunately, House Speaker John Boehner, R – Ohio),successfully re-authorized these vouchers within last April’s bipartisan budget agreement….

If a woman chooses to kill the young American in her womb, nearly every Democrat in Washington, D.C. will fight for her like Army Rangers on Normandy Beach. But if a woman desires almost any other choice, Democrats impersonate the Great Wall of China.