Pro-Lifers Flood Obama Website

Dan Gilgoff at U.S. News’ blog posts about the flood of comments that pro-lifers have posted at President-elect Obama’s transition team’s website.

When she [president of Americans United for Life, Charmaine Yoest] sent the E-mail last night, Yoest says, there were fewer than 200 comments responding to a memo titled “Advancing Reproductive Rights and Health in a New Administration,” on the Obama site, change.gov. Now, there are almost 2,000 comments.

Comments areas are notorious for their nastiness, but I’m struck by the respectful tone of these protests. Does it mean pro-lifers see Obama as a different kind of Democrat, more willing to listen to their concerns than has traditionally been the case? In that regard, the civil tone suggests that Obama might be able to make headway with pro-lifers with policies that reduce demand for abortions without restricting abortion rights.

No, Dan, what it means is that pro-lifers are generally much more civil than their counterparts on the pro-abortion side. And don’t be deceived by the “civil tone”–most pro-lifers will not settle for policies that do not restrict abortion rights.