According to tentative language obtained by CNN Monday, the Republican Party will consider a plank calling for an end to legalized abortion — with an exception for the life of the mother — at its national convention next week in Tampa, Fla. That's similar to planks the party adopted in 2000, 2004 and 2008.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Party Platform Committee recently drafted an entirely new plank — one that calls for same-sex marriage to be legalized nationwide, and for the longstanding federal law defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman to be repealed.
That language will be considered at the Democratic National Convention to be held in Charlotte, N.C., Sept. 4-6. The Republican National Convention takes place Aug. 27-30.
“We have seen, in 2012, a genuine polarization,” noted Tim Goeglein, Focus on the Family’s vice president for external relations. “Even though we have historically large numbers of people who call themselves independent, when they actually vote, they do so overwhelmingly for either Democrats or Republicans. But there is the 5 to 8 percent of people who genuinely are still undecided. In a country of 313 million people, that is potentially a very large number of votes.”
If Republicans adopt the draft platform, the party will endorse an amendment to the U.S. Constitution making it clear that preborn children have “a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed.” Other planks include opposition to federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, support for the use of ultrasounds and full disclosure about fetal development before abortions, as well as support for state-enforced abortion clinic regulations.
That language reflects the fact, Goeglein said, “that the majority of Americans for the first time since Roe v. Wade, are pro-life.”
“One party will say it is pro-life from conception to natural death, that everyone should be welcomed into the world and protected by the law,” he added. “The other will say that in one form or the other, abortion should be legal from conception all the way up through the ninth month of pregnancy. That is as large of a bright line as is possible. And on those two issues, the parties are as divided and distinct as they’ve ever been.”
As a result, Hispanics will be a key voting bloc to watch in November: Though they tend to favor a larger, more activist federal government, they also tend to favor pro-life legislation and marriage, Goeglein said.
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