A landmark for common ground
This morning, Representatives Ryan and DeLauro unveiled the Preventing Unintended Pregnancies, Reducing the Need for Abortion and Supporting Parents Act, legislation that puts forth concrete common ground policy goals.
The Members were joined by religious and secular pro-life and pro-choice leaders today on Capitol Hill, and dozens more issued statements of support. See the full list of endorsers here, including 35 religious leaders from both sides of the abortion divide.
The bill — and common ground on abortion more broadly — draws on values shared by pro-choice and pro-life leaders alike and create policies that improve the lives of women and families in concrete ways. The bill outlines a range of programs and initiatives to reduce the need for abortion– from enlisting parents in preventing teen pregnancy to expanding low-income women’s access to contraception to increasing awareness about domestic violence to ensuring maternity care is covered by insurers to supporting parenting students.
The broad support for this bill really conveys how remarkable the legislation itself is, addressing a broad swath of concerns and priorities for this typically polarizing issue, and reflecting the shared values of people who hold differing views on abortion. Over at Time magazine, Amy Sullivan sums up the remarkable context:
….Consider this: Just three years ago, when the two Representatives, pro-life Tim Ryan of Ohio and pro-choice Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, introduced an earlier version of the legislation, they could only convince one religious organization — and not a single abortion rights group — to support them. Today leaders from Planned Parenthood and NARAL will be crowded elbow-to-elbow with Catholics and conservative evangelicals to stand behind Ryan and DeLauro. It may not be an end to the culture war, but it looks a lot like a ceasefire…
With the continued goodwill and courage of leaders on both sides, this ceasefire could turn into a peace treaty that will allow for a new approach that focuses on meeting tangible needs of women, children, and families across the country.
UPDATE: FPL colleague Robert Jones is live-tweeting the bill reintroduction press conference. Check it out here: http://twitter.com/robertpjones