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Its true that the left will have to choose (and soon) between absolute ideological purity and the huge numbers required to seize the rudder of the nation and avert global catastrophe. But abortion is not valid fodder for such compromise, nor is racism, nor is L.G.B.T.Q. equality, nor is any issue that puts peoples fundamental humanity up for debate. Abortion is not a fringe issue. Abortion is liberty.

I hear from some people on the left that Donald Trumps victory was at least partially the fault of identity politics of feminists pushing too hard, of Black Lives Matter being too aggressive, of trans people needing to go to the bathroom as though the violent suppression of a movement points more toward its irrelevance than its necessity. What the Democrats need to do, I often hear, is to move away from issues of identity and toward purer, broader issues of economic equality.

But there is no model of economic equality that does not reckon with identity politics. There is no economic equality without the ability to terminate a pregnancy. There is no economic equality without the overthrow of white supremacy. What good is an economic opportunity if large swaths of the population cant access it? Telling minority groups that its their responsibility to sit back and wait, to subordinate their needs for the good of the party that implies that the party is not theirs as much as everyone elses. And it sounds a lot like the people were trying to defeat.

Abortion is normal. Abortion is common, necessary and happening every day across party lines, economic lines and religious lines. Abortion is also legal and, contrary to what the pundit economy would have you believe, not particularly controversial. According to the Pew Research Center, nearly 70 percent of all Americans oppose overturning Roe v. Wade, while 75 percent of Democrats believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases. These are not numbers that indicate controversy.

Yes, abortion does draw certain groups to the polls. Trumps success among evangelicals can almost certainly be attributed to their belief that he will appoint justices who will bring about the end of Roe v. Wade (a promise that, it seems, with the appointment of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, he intends to fulfill). But that is why Republicans vote; its not why Democrats vote.

Abortion is not controversial on the left. So what does it say that so many lefty men are willing to scrap it in an attempt to pander to some vague fantasy of a vast, disgruntled, anti-choice center? What kind of cringing, bewildered invertebrates roll over and capitulate to the losing side of a debate at a time when theyve never had more leverage? What contortionist of logic came up with the proposal that alienating 75 percent of ones constituents, and declaring half to not deserve control over their bodies, can strengthen a partys numbers? This is not broadening our coalition; its flagrantly shrinking it.

There has never been a more opportune moment for the Democratic Party to demand compromise not from the left but from the center. What are anti-choice Democrats going to do? Become Republicans? Now? Jump into the abattoir of clown meat whose top policy priority seems to be poor people deserve to die of preventable diseases?

Come on, Democrats. Be something. Unite and move left. The center will follow or lose.

The rest is here:
Of Course Abortion Should Be a Litmus Test for Democrats - New York Times