From: mrawson@deimos.ucc.umass.edu (MARK A RAWSON)
Subject: Re: Was Clinton's victory America's message to the Anti-Choice?
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: University of Massachusetts, Amherst
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Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1992 21:58:00 GMT

In article <1992Nov5.194006.22702@netcom.com>, tyger@netcom.com (Kristen Kohlbecker) writes...
>knapp@spot.Colorado.EDU (David Knapp) writes:
>>
>>It seems to me that one of the largest deciding factors, along with the
>>economy, in pushing Clinton past the finish line was abortion. It seems
>>that few voted 'for'  WClinton (or even 'for' Perot) but did this as a 
>>vote *against* Bush.
> 
>I don't think nearly as many voted against *Bush* as voted against the 
>Republican Party as a whole...let's face it, calling feminists lesbian 
>man-haters and other goodies is not going to win one brownie points
>outside of a rather small segment of society. Bush's main campaign failing
>was to keep banging on the issue of trust long after people indicated
>they could give a rip. 
> 
>>I'm curious to hear what you all think about the issue of abortion and its
>>effects on the presidency and other implications such as the dangling
>>supreme court.
> 
>Well, as I said in soc.singles earlier this week, I am in favor of some 
>sort of controls over abortions. I definitely think it should be an option
>for a woman, but on the other hand, I know a lot of women from my Alma Mater
>and other places for whom this is their method of birth control. This makes 
>me angry. Without getting into the Sanctity of Human Life issue, why should
>I subsidise these women's birth control when I pinch pennies to pay for my
>own? True, a free abortion from Planned Parenthood is de facto cheaper than
>20$/month for the Pill or whatever condoms are going for these days, but this
>just seems to me to be an inappropriate application of this procedure. Only
>problem is, I question whether controls can be put in place that would not 
>leave a great many loopholes by which people with legitimate reasons for an
>abortion would not have that option available to them.
> 
>>David Knapp                                      
> 
>Tyger
> 
>PS: Since when is a Margin of 35 Million votes to 30 million votes a ROUT or
>    a LANDSLIDE?
> 
>-- 
>      Kristen Kohlbecker    And I would choose to be with you
>      tyger@netcom.com      That's if the choice were mine to make   
>                            But you can make decisions too
>      A Tyger and a Lady    And you can have this heart to break 





I would definitely agree that  abortion was a key issue in this election. 
The Republicans took a very personal issue and turned it into a method of
slamming the door on women in many areas in our society. It was clear that,
although abortion was the original issue, it was used to condemn women's 
free expression and restrict our basic rights, like proper health care.
I defended abortion clinics during the Republican Convention, and it was
clear that many of the protestors were not concerned with life, but with
their own power. The violent and invasive tactics they often used were 
inexcusable. I think many people were disgusted with that, and could not
sympathize with the Republicans' position on this issue because of their
actions during the campaign.





                                               Susan Entman
                                               Smith College