"Now you're harassing..."

... because harassing is SO much worse than, you know, killing someone.

Apparently the Kansas Republican party is encouraging candidates to "back off" the abortion issue in their state, because, they say, a strong pro-life stance won't win elections anymore:

Alesha Doan, a political scientist at the University of Kansas, said that in this election cycle "there's a sense of, 'Let's move on'" among voters in the state. Candidates risk repercussions if they are too closely associated with the effort to place criminal charges on physicians performing abortions, Doan said. She added, "At some point, a line is crossed, and you're no longer just expressing your opinion and trying to do God's work. Now you're harassing, and voters say, 'We don't want to be part of that.'"

Okay. So it's also "harassment" when the police arrest axe murderers and serial killers. And the victim's family, and society at large, should just "move on." Got it. I'll remember that next time I'm called to jury duty. *sigh*

Just one more clue that Republicans at large have abandoned the pro-life voter, who, in many cases, didn't like them that much to begin with. The good old boys were always more interested in their own power and gain than in what was and is right, as most politicians tend to be, and I think we always knew it. But at least they were better than no one.

At least Ron Paul's still fighting the good fight. And, unlike many of his cohorts, he's got a pretty realistic take on the relationship of abortion to politics:

[F]ederalization of social issues, often championed by conservatives, has not created a pro-life culture. It simply has prevented the 50 states from enacting laws that more closely reflect the views of their citizens. . . . It is much more difficult for pro-life advocates to win politically at the federal level. Those who seek a pro-life culture must accept that we will never persuade 300 million Americans to agree with us. Our focus should be on overturning Roe and getting the federal government completely out of the business of regulating state matters. A pro-life culture can be built only from the ground up, person by person. For too long we have viewed the battle as purely political, but no political victory can change a degraded culture. A pro-life culture must arise from each of us as individuals, not by the edict of an amoral federal government.

Practical Pro-Life Action: Email or write your local Republican representative -- and heck, your local Democratic rep too; we're equal opportunity here -- and express your disappointment (or, in my case, disgust and rage) that their party has become so unprincipled and inconsistent on this issue. Dems are supposed to be all about social justice; why haven't they legislated to protect the most vulnerable members of society? (As Flannery O'Connor said, you can't be any poorer than dead. But the next closest thing is to be not yet born.) Meanwhile, Republicans -- but I can't begin to express the multifariousness of my disappointments with them on this issue. I'm sure you can figure out some of your own.