“After long and contentious debate, conservative strategists came to a consensus, Stewart writes: ‘They landed upon the one surprising word that would supply the key to the political puzzle of the age: ‘abortion.’’
In an email, Stewart expanded on her argument. Abortion opponents:
‘are more likely to be committed to a patriarchal worldview in which the control of reproduction, and female sexuality in particular, is thought to be central in maintaining a gender hierarchy that (as they see it) sustains the family, which they claim is under threat from secular, modern forces.’
Abortion is among the most intractable issues dividing the parties, with little or no room for compromise.
On one side, opponents of the procedure argue that ‘at the moment of fusion of human sperm and egg, a new entity comes into existence which is distinctly human, alive, and an individual organism — a living, and fully human, being,” as the Center for Human Dignity puts it in the pamphlet “The Best Pro-Life Arguments for Secular Audiences.'”
