Presidential politics and abortion

Susan Reimer

1:00 p.m. EDT, September 2, 2012

Susan Reimer's column abut the Republican platform on abortion again shows her expertise in setting up a straw man and then knocking him down ("Presidential election or abortion referendum?" Aug. 27).

The Republican platform comprises about 45 pages and sets forth the Republican Party's proposals for every major issue that confronts America both domestically and internationally. Sanctity of life is only one of its more than 100 proposals.

Yet in Ms. Reimer's biased and myopic view, the Republican platform concerns only abortion and does not deal with other important election issues.

Ms. Reimer ignores the fact that Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan and just about every other responsible Republican have rejected Rep. Todd Akin's unfortunate remarks — and that it is the Democratic Party's election machine that relentlessly, irresponsibly and falsely keeps the issue alive by associating Mr. Akin's words with the Republican Party.

If the election is to become a referendum on abortion, as Mrs. Reimer mistakenly alleges, it will be the Democrats who made it so.

Evan Alevizatos Chriss, Baltimore

Comments (1)

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harrybsun at 9:08 AM September 03, 2012

Akin's poor understanding of how lady parts work is not widely shared among Republicans, at least they're not lining up to confess about it, however his policy of "rape victims must be mandated by law to bear the children of their rapists" is codified in the Republican party platform and is held by many Republicans, including VP nominee Paul Ryan.

The Republican platform contains other points (like shifting Medicare costs onto seniors), but this is a dramatically important one, one that directly impacts our lives.

Republicans want to remove teaching of contraception in school, want to ban abortion, and want to slash spending on healthcare, housing, and food for children born into poverty. What impact do you think this combination of policies will have?

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