A considerable number of voters have changed political parties over the abortion issue.  Still, within the parties there are large numbers of voters that disagree with the official party position but who remain loyal due to more fundamental issues like the economy.  The Republicans control the Supreme Court (7 Republicans and 2 Democrats when Roe vs. Wade was decided) so if they really wanted to end abortion in the US they could have done so years ago.

The fact is the Republicans lie to the pro-life voters to keep their vote and a simple evaluation of the way they vote in Congress tells the real story.  The Republicans controlled both Houses for eight years and only once did the Abortion issue get through their leadership and appear on the floor.  The Partial Birth Abortion bill was passed by both houses and, had the Republicans added the words "except when the life and health of the mother are endangered" President Clinton would have signed it and the ugly procedure would be banned today.   President Clinton wanted to sign this bill and publicly announced that he would if the change was made.  The Republicans promptly denounced the President's statement and kept the wording that insured it would not get signed.  If the bill had saved even one unborn child it would be a victory to Pro-Life supporters so the Republican Leadership made sure it never passed.  That is Abortion Politics. The Republican Party gave us abortion on demand and will never end abortion because they would lose about forty eight percent of their voter base if the issue was removed and they had to rely only on their real agenda of economic support of the wealthy.

This writer disagrees with the Democratic Party official position concerning this issue but since I have adult children and growing grandchildren who need jobs with decent wages and reasonable protection from the few employers who have no concern for their employee's welfare I will always vote for the Democratic candidate. Here in Illinois the Congress, Senate, and Governor from 1996 until 2000 were all Republican controlled. They did nothing to reduce abortions in the State but they did eliminate a number of laws protecting workers under the guise of attracting business.

This is the pattern the Republican Party has followed since I first voted in 1964. Given the opportunity, the Republican party has always pushed an economic program that favors reductions in worker's rights and removing laws protecting the people from the greedy. A good example of this is the deregulation of the savings and loan industry during Regan's first years. The weak Democratic majority in the House was overcome by the pressure from the Republican Senate and President. The result was the savings and loan crash. Billions of our tax dollars are still being spent to rectify that mistake. In fact much of our huge federal debt is the direct result of this event. God only knows what hardships electric deregulation will eventually produce.

Consider the Republican Contract With America, There was no mention of the Abortion issue but lots of talk about changing the economy at the expense of the working class. All this leads an informed voter to recognize that today the Republican Party is a single issue party that consistently pushes the economic advantage of the wealthier American.