Sunday, June 20, 2010

Republican State Convention: The Life Platform


Every cycle Republican platform debates across the country take on the issue of the right to life agenda, and in particular abortion.

Although virtually every public poll shows the right to life cause is increasingly majoritarian in the population as a whole, a sizeable majority of the L/S/D coalition remains committed to abortion as a moral virtue and not merely a right.  Advocating the majority position and opposing the minority, a tactic that implicitly demonstrates the extremism of our adversaries' minority position, seems prudent, at least from an electoral success perspective.

To the extent the Iowa Republican Party maintains its present, majoritarian, position on right to life then we should adopt those legislative solutions that are aimed at ending abortion in Iowa.

I would suggest the following, market oriented platform items:

  • Prohibit issuing malpractice insurance to health care professionals that provide elective abortions.

  • Prohibit the payment of any state funds of any kind or for any purpose to any medical institution that enables the provision of elective abortions.
Enforcement would be simple, no new state employees would be required.  No liberal woman's real or perceived rights under Roe v. Wade would be violated.  No constitutional fight would be necessary.

In the end, abortion would simply cease to exist in the jurisdiction of Iowa law.  Moreover the aforesaid two measures, much like last week's immigration proposal, provide a clearly measured metric of performance by the candidates that we support once elected.

Delegates, give it some thought.

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