Editorial: Michigan voters can show the country how to protect abortion rights by electing pro-choice moderates who are prepared to defend them at the ballot box.
In a state with a pro-choice law and a presidential election, there is an even greater urgency to show how pro-life activists can hold the national dialogue to support the most vulnerable women across the country and defend the rights of unborn children.
To do that it will take every vote in Michigan, and Michigan needs all of its votes.
For months the presidential campaign has intensified the political conversation, and the stakes for pro-choice moderates who are supporting the Democrats in Michigan are high.
On Sunday, the Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney promised to nominate pro-life judges in his administration if given the chance, and now that the voters have the opportunity to do the same, it’s time for everyone else to step to the plate.
The issue is whether pro-choice voters in Michigan are prepared for that fight.
No one wants abortion to be the defining issue of the election, but if the Republican Party is going to win the White House, abortion rights need to be a major part of its platform.
Michigan voters can show the country how to protect abortion rights and help women who are the most vulnerable, instead of throwing them under the bus, and that’s how pro-choice voters who support Democrats in Michigan can win this election.
A few years ago I was in an intersection at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport, waiting for a flight to go out to the suburbs to knock on doors. I remember thinking, There are more than 60 candidates on the ballot for Congress this year, and I don’t have a party to vote for.
I wanted to support a woman candidate who would stand up for women’s rights and abortion rights, and the one thing they all have in common is supporting the pro-choice movement. I decided to choose the Democratic candidate, because the one place pro-choice supporters won when they voted was in the Democratic primaries.
But how I thought they could win in October is something nobody is discussing. A year ago I said, “If the Republicans have a female candidate, that person cannot be pro-choice and vote for that person.”
They couldn’t be for abortion rights as long as they are for the federal government.
Now, Michigan voters have a choice they did not have before. There are two women candidates running