Bonnie Erbe Demands Pro-lifers Compromise, Insists the Left Has on Abortion

PBS's Bonnie Erbe is annoyed with Barack Obama's rhetoric at Sunday's Notre Dame commencement ceremony. The "To the Contrary" host and U.S. News contributor slammed the president's appeal to find "common ground" between pro-life and pro-choice activists.

"The Left has made great concessions: abandoning any semblance of seeking abortion on demand, acceding to all sorts of limits on abortion rights in the 37 [sic] years since Roe v. Wade became law," Erbe griped in her May 18 blog post, "Liberals Have Made Abortion Concessions, Now Conservatives Must Give Ground Too."

What planet is Erbe living on? Parental consent laws and partial-birth abortion bans have been vigorously contested by abortion rights advocates in courts, albeit with a mixed record of success in having the courts overturn the will of the people in enacting abortion regulations. Can Erbe honestly point to any abortion regulation -- parental consent, parental notification, required ultrasounds, waiting periods, partial-birth abortion bans -- that a major Democratic presidential aspirant has actively pushed for in the past 25 years? 

President Obama pledged during his campaign -- on the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade -- to sign the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA). In the same statement he heralded his 100% rating by NARAL  Pro-Choice America, which by no means has acquiesced on its push for abortion-on-demand.

No matter, Erbe huffs. It is conservatives and pro-lifers who must make concessions:

Now it's the Right's turn: Stop referring to abortion as "baby-killing" and use of Plan B and other contraceptives as "murder." Maybe then we could see some real progress on this issue.

Shhhh. Don't tell Bonnie the ground is shifting under her according to recent polling:

For the first time since pollsters posed the question in 1995, a slim majority of Americans consider themselves "pro-life," a new Gallup poll shows.

Fifty-one percent of respondents describe themselves as "pro-life," while 42% said they are "pro-choice."

The findings were based on answers to Gallup's annual Values and Beliefs survey, which was conducted in early May.

Last year, 50% of respondents described themselves as "pro-choice" and 44% as "pro-life." The previous high-water mark for the "pro-life" category was 46%, reached in 2001 and 2002.