Senate Race Heats Up Over Abortion

By Fred Thys
Jan 13, 2010, 5:29 AM
5 Comments

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BOSTON — Here’s what a gloomy male voice says in the Massachusetts Democratic Party’s ad against Scott Brown: “Brown even favors letting hospitals deny emergency contraception to rape victims.”

In 2005, Brown proposed a measure that would have allowed medical personnel with religious objections to refuse to provide emergency contraception to anyone. His proposal never passed.

Ayla Brown, daughter of Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate Scott Brown, faces reporters with her sister Arianna Brown, right, during a news conference at a hotel in Boston on Tuesday. (AP)

By Tuesday morning, some of the allies of the Democratic candidate, Attorney General Martha Coakley, had joined the fray.

“Time and again,” said Andrea Miller, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts, “Scott Brown has shown he is willing to compromise — for political gain — the health and well-being of some of the most vulnerable women in Massachusetts, and this includes victims of sexual assault.”

Scott Brown’s daughters rallied to their father’s defense with a press conference of their own. His oldest daughter, Ayla, took a jab at Coakley.

“Martha Coakley’s new negative ad represents everything that discourages young women from getting involved in politics,” Ayla said, “and as a young woman, I’m completely offended by that. Her attack on my dad is completely inaccurate and misleading.”

As interest in the race picks up, Brown is accelerating his fund-raising. He says he raised $1.3 million in 24 hours, and he is spending some of his campaign’s money airing his own ad. In the ad, Brown is standing in a kitchen.

“By now,” Brown says, “you’ve probably seen the negative ads launched by Martha Coakley and her supporters. Instead of discussing issues like health care and jobs, they’ve decided the best way to stop me is to tear me down.”

This battle over Brown’s position on abortion comes as the race is becoming surprisingly competitive. Tuesday, Sen. John Kerry sent out an email to Democrats asking for contributions to the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee. Kerry called the race between Coakley and Brown “a dead heat.”

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Col

This headline–as with so many buzzing around at the moment–is confusing the issue. Since the debate, I _repeatedly_ see “abortion” conflated with “contraception.” Just because a Catholic hospital might be opposed to both (once hopes, opposed proportionately to each’s perceived gravity), I think that any hospital should be required to supply emergency _contraception_ to a rape victim–and that’s the real controversy here over Brown’s earlier proposal. He waffled all over this during the debate, refusing to come out and say that yes, his proposal had indeed supported just that position, that certain hospitals could refuse to provide this treatment if they objected to it.

Surely Catholic hospitals should prefer emergency contraception, which PREVENTS pregnancy (and therefore later abortion) to abortion. But Brown wanted to let them off the hook for either procedure. That adds insult to the injury of a crime victim.

He still has yet to say that he has reversed this position, saying only that a victim of rape deserves “immediate attention.” That’s far too vague, and his is a dangerous position.
David Kimball

I would take what Brown’s daughters said a little more to heart if they had explained what Brown does and does not believe in with regards to abortions. To just say that Coakley’s comments were wrong is not sufficient. Maybe they were. But if they were, I would like to know in what ways. Otherwise they are just tearing down Coakley for what they accuse her of doing in tearing down Brown.
Anna

These abortion arguments are so disingenuous. No one ‘likes’ abortion. The fact remains though, the countries with the most restrictive abortion laws have the highest rates of abortion! Restrictive laws do NOT lower abortion rates. Legal or illegal, women who do not want to carry a pregnancy to term will have an abortion. Why are we still thinking this way? Support comprehensive sex education and contraception if you truly want to lower the rate of abortion.
SouthendBos

Amen, Anna. The problem is unwanted pregnancy – not abortion. Stop unwanted pregnancy (contraception) and you’ll stop abortion.
Richard

I am strongly pro choice, at any time, for any reason. I am also a fiscal conservative, but a social libertarian. I only voted for Coakley in the primary because she, once, stated that she would not have supported the health bill because of the abortion compromise. Where does Kennedy stand on abortion. It is a pity that I find myself constantly faced with a choice of making a one issue vote, or considering other issues. The President, seemingly seeking to move blue collar democrats from the religious right, is selling out on women’s rights issues. What is Coakley going to do.It is troubling that a two party system, with two party primaries, favors candidates who avoid the center. Does anyone else feel the IQs dropping, every time we have an election?