A Shot Across the Bow: Obama and the Abortion Debate

Day 16 and the Obama administration has toed the line of the heated abortion debate.

Washingtonpost.com's Rob Stein called it in a recent article as "trying to blunt the edge of perhaps the sharpest, most divisive wedge issue in the country: abortion."

To me, there is no doubt that the abortion issue can cause an immediate divide even among friends, sometimes regardless of party affiliation. Since I've come into young adulthood and gained a perspective on the issue, it seemed to me that all the gray matter within the wide label of abortion has been distilled into just "yes" or "no."

Only one week ago, thousands of pro-lifers marched in Washington D.C. to tout their side of the abortion issue. Pro-life demonstrators walked the divided debate's latest footsteps, and crossed the sidewalks outside the new administration's White House.

A close friend of mine marched with them. Out of respect of our friendship, I took careful care last week to minimize her sightings of my "Pro-Choice Patriots" pin that I've had on my bag since freshman year.

But this week, I've returned to my normal ways, and the pin is fastened to the canvas as snugly as ever, its tiny message brightly showing in George Mason Patriot colors.

In many ways, it seems as if the debate has once again been heated to a boiling point, given that on the campaign trial, President Obama made his pro-choice stance decidedly clear.

Since then has made no attempt to clear that information from his still-functioning campaign website and the information can still be easily found.

However, as I sifted through his old campaign issues and promises, I was more surprised at the overarching that abortion earned: "women's issues.”

I immediately thought, really - when was the last time we argued abortion purely as a "woman's issue?"

To my friends and foes alike on this issue, we both know that more than just a "woman's issue" has been heatedly argued with abortion. Freedom, finances and religious beliefs are just a few of contenders to the abortion fighting ring.

One of the latest headliners for these three abortion titans was Nancy Pelosi's interview that was supposed to better explain the latest stimulus plan, but instead bounced around the Internet like a bouncy ball in a snoozing bear cave.

In the interview, Pelosi stated that "contraception will reduce cost to the state," this was in reference to a question about the family planning portions of the economic stimulus bill.

That particular bouncing ball awoke this bear in its hibernation den:

"We have reached a new low when high-ranking public office holders in the federal government cast children as the enemy. But at least it explains their enthusiasm for abortion-on-demand," said an online article from Christian News Wire.

The article was titled, "Pelosi on Kids: They're an Economic Drain."

But latest abortion gunfire aside: was the Obama administration successful in beginning the abortion dialogue? I think that remains to be seen.

But echoing the words of his old campaign website, it seems that the administration is attempting to strike at the issue with the weapon of unwanted pregnancy prevention, rather than the deep, opposing trenches of pro-life versus pro-choice.

I myself wait for the next smoke that flares up with this ongoing American issue, and what comes of it on all sides.