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Summarized by Kent Larsen
For Many, Abortion Is Lost in the Crowd of Issues
New York Times 4Feb00 N6
By Dirk Johnson
LANSING, MICHIGAN -- While every U.S. Presidential candidate has a stand
on abortion, to most voters it isn't a big consideration in choosing who
they will vote for. Voters on both sides of the issue, including an LDS
Bishop quoted for this New York Times article, say that issues like tax
policy and trustworthiness are far more important.
Taylor Manning, an LDS Bishop in Naperville, Illinois, told the Times,
"I run with a pretty conservative group of people, and I don't think
they're basing their votes on abortion." While abortion has always been
an important issue to LDS Church members, and Manning admits he does
have strong personal views on the issue, he wishes that abortion could
stay out of the political debate.
The Times interviewed more than 50 voters in Michigan, Illinois and
Wisconsin for this article, and found it rare that a voter would change
candidates based solely on the candidate's abortion position. Many
voters simply didn't believe candidate's statements on the issue; they
assumed that these statements were simply made to attract some group of
voters.
This sentiment, according to the Times, reflects voter's views that the
status quo simply can't be changed. "When it came right down to it,
there would be an uproar in this country" if abortion were made illegal,
says Heinke Hoenck, a retired secretary in Janesville, Wisconsin. "It
would be very hard for a president to change the law." Another voter,
Tony Harvey of Chicago, agrees, "I'm very religious, and I do not
believe in abortion. But to me, all this talk about abortion is beside
the point. If people want to have abortions, they're going to have
them."
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