Bonnie Erbe Praises Sarah Palin, Slams Pro-life Conservatives

April 17th, 2009 6:13 PM

So get this, Bonnie Erbe -- who recently wrote that abortion was a logical choice in a recession -- takes social conservatives to task for being cold-hearted bastards when it comes to the issue of abortion.

The PBS "To the Contrary" host and US News contributing editor offered readers a rare instance of praise for Sarah Palin, for admitting that for a brief moment she wrestled with the notion of aborting her youngest son Trig (emphases mine):

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin displayed one minute aspect of her personality that even I could take a shine to. Speaking last night to an anti-abortion rights dinner in Indiana, Gov. Palin said publicly that she considered having an abortion on that trip—not an easy admission, especially before such a judgmental group

[...]

 I see this as brave on her part because when she mentioned she understood "what these women ... go through," that is precisely the problem with much of the anti-abortion rights movement. Many members don't understand or don't care, quite frankly, what women and girls with unplanned pregnancies do go through, except to the extent they want to try to persuade them to have children they're ill-equipped to raise. To go up against that lack of compassion, even though her audience knows she did decide to carry her pregnancy to term, shows Gov. Palin truly does understand what it's like.

[...]

[A]s long as the GOP continues to let itself be dominated by atavist religious conservatives, it will keep its title as minority party for a long, long time.

 

It seems to escape Erbe that many of the dastardly "atavist religious conservatives" she maligns are grassroots activists who are both proponents of pro-life laws and volunteers at crisis pregnancy centers and adoption networks.