This blog is pro-choice

This blog is pro-choice - because I believe in the Constitution.

Many of you assumed as much, because you already knew you'd be hard-pressed to find a blog as progressive as this one in 2011. Some of you had doubts, because you noticed that abortion rights is the one issue I've never directly dealt with on this blog or in the 18 years I've had my newsletter.

I guess I've avoided the subject because of the Campbell Countian in me. But now the truth is out.

One of the great things about America is that you can be personally opposed to something but still support others' rights to make their own choices. And I will support your right to make your own choices.

Why? Because the Constitution says. It's called the right to privacy. The right to privacy formed the basis of Roe v. Wade.

What if abortion is necessary to save the mother's health? I've noticed there's been an unusual glut of anti-choice bills in state legislatures lately. Authors of these bills don't give a damn that the bills place women's health at risk. In fact, I know Nebraska already has a very restrictive law in force that not only flies in the face of Roe v. Wade but has also damaged the health of women. I know this because I've seen recent accounts written by women who were endangered by this law.

As an American taxpayer, I have a right to see that the Constitution is followed.

I'm not saying a state can't have some regulations in place - as long as it doesn't violate Roe v. Wade or endanger women's lives. And I also believe abortion should be as rare as possible. Unfortunately, many folks in the anti-abortion movement have done nothing to make it rare. In fact, the abortion rate in the U.S. skyrocketed under Bush.

Though I'm an economic populist first and foremost, this blog is pro-choice.