I’m sorry that I’ve neglected your comment for a month. Somehow it got caught in the spam trap, which I cleared only today. Too busy for blogging lately.

I’ll take a look at the response on your blog—thanks for taking the time to ponder these issues and share your thoughts.

—Eric

That last phrase doesn’t jibe with what I see. There were a lot of pro-life dems in the 70′s, 80′s and early 90′s. In fact, Al Gore, Joe Biden, Dick Durbin, and even Jesse Jackson were all pro-life back then. But there is no room for actual pro-lifers in the Democratic party and they switched their positions to placate the base (see Party of Death, by Ramesh Ponnuru).

Think of the difference between Gov. Bob Casey, Sr. and Sen Bob Casey, Jr. Sr. battled Planned Parenthood to the Supreme Court and came one vote from overturning Roe. Jr. is an empty suit that the Dems say is Pro-Life but won’t be there when it matters (think judges). I would argue that pro-life dems were destroyed when Clinton refused to let Bob Casey even speak at the ’92 convention.

Whom did you have in mind for pro-life Dems on the rise?

Even now, with Roe and Doe holding significant restriction of abortion by the states in check, the FOCA doesn’t have legs. If those rulings are dramatically undermined, or even overturned, I think FOCA’s chances would be even less.

Here’s why (if I’m right):

In a state that enacts significant abortion restrictions, it would be very difficult for a pro-choice candidate to run on a platform of passing FOCA.

In a state that adopts a very liberal abortion policy, it would be hard for candidates for federal office to get the electorate very excited about FOCA—only a tiny minority of voters would be so committed to the idea of “abortion rights” as to insist on depriving other states of the ability to restrict abortion if they saw fit.

In fact, there are few states, and few congressional electoral districts, that would enact legislation like FOCA. Most Americans oppose the unrestricted abortion regime that has reigned since 1973, including many who call themselves pro-choice.

Measures like the partial birth abortion ban, informed consent, parental involvement, waiting periods and even a ban on late term abortions (a measure blocked by Roe/Doe) —all of which enjoy widespread support—would be forbidden by FOCA.

So I don’t think FOCA has legs. It’s more of a gesture towards the hard-core pro-choice base of the Democratic party—and a fundraising opportunity—than a serious piece of legislation.

In fact, if Obama is elected, I hope he tries to follow through on his promise to enact FOCA. Let’s have a national debate on abortion, whether any restrictions at all ought to be allowed. I think that would be a big loser for pro-choice Democrats, especially considering the rise of pro-life Democrats these days.