Perry's stance on abortion equals his tactical downfall

Rick Perry is one of the newest candidates to enter the campaign for the GOP. He is the governor of Texas, having taken over after then-governor George W. Bush became president. While Perry initially dismissed talk of him entering the presidential race, he has since thrown his hat in the ring and his strategy appears to be a chapter out of Michelle Bachman’s playbook.

The appeal to the ‘religious right’ portion of the GOP in this campaign so far, has been stunning both in it’s base comments and antiquated ideology. Michelle Bachman’s ignorant comments about hurricane Irene being a judgment from God harkens back to Jonathan Edwards’ ‘Sinner’s at the hands of an angry God’.

Why Perry would want to lump him self in with this kind of thinking is beyond me. So far he hasn’t been terrible for Texas, by all accounts. He hasn’t done the economic wonders he claims he has, but he hasn’t destroyed it—although his recent legislation with regards to education has potential.

Perry had the potential to be a moderate candidate. While Texas does for the most part vote red overall, it is not the MOST conservative state. Large populations are fairly moderate, or even liberal at that (i.e. Austin, or Houston who elected a lesbian mayor). Perry has dismissed his moderate chance however, with his recent Oklahoma-like legislation on abortion.

Perry has always been against abortion; this is true. But as the Texas Tribune states:

Over the years, Perry's public opposition to abortion has grown ever-more emphatic, coinciding with runs for re-election in an increasingly red Texas, and now for the 2012 GOP nomination for the presidency, where he faces candidates with similarly forceful anti-abortion views. …

Perry is no Johnny-come-lately to the anti-abortion movement, and his general ethos hasn’t changed: He opposes abortion except in cases of rape or incest, or when the mother’s life is in danger. "The governor has always been pro-life and has a strong pro-life record," his spokesman Mark Miner said.

But Perry's position on abortion didn’t come into play in his early years in elective office. It was a non-issue in his race for agriculture commissioner and, later, in his race for lieutenant governor, where his opponent, Democrat (and Roman Catholic) John Sharp, also opposed abortion.

Perry’s recently proposed legislation on abortion was an even bolder move in his anti-abortion ideology, so bold that it will surely isolate him from a significant portion of the voter population, myself included. U.S. District Court Judge Sam Sparks fortunately struck the legislation, which had a strong resemblance to the Oklahoma legislation passed in 2008, down Tuesday.

The legislation would have required women to receive a sonogram within 24 hours of their abortion. During the sonogram the doctor would describe in detail the size of the fetus and its organs. They would also play audio of the heartbeat; then send the woman home to think about it over night and decide if she still wants the abortion.

The legislation is nothing more than a tactless, psychological attack on women and their right to their body. This type of legislation offers skewed results, not well-informed ones. Subject anyone to that kind of emotional stress and you are bound to get a reaction. It’s not fair to women to be subjected to extensive emotional distress and guilt and then be asked to re-make a choice they have already made.

With legislation like this we are placing the weights definitively in one scale, asking women to overcome the extra weight of the opposing scale and then still claim that women have the right to do what they want with their bodies.

By backing this type of legislation, Perry has made it very clear that he intends to compete with his like-minded opponents on a religious ground. What’s more, the fact that after strong urging from religious groups, Perry has now gone so far as to say he supports amending the Constitution to a pro-life stance shows that courting the ‘religious right’ is more important than an overall game plan to mitigate more valid threats to this country (i.e. economic woes and foreign policy).

I understand the like it or not, the ‘religious right’ is a part of the GOP and therefore a target for candidates, but I think that candidates like Perry, and politicians in general, need to realize, not only is there is a larger portion of the voter population, but there are also more dire issues facing this country that deserve attention.

While Perry’s stance on abortion has always been a pro-life stance, the clear spikes in pro-life aggression having coincided with elections indicate that a lot of it is political strategy. Not only is this strategy, and type of legislation in my opinion, ignorant, it speaks to a severe lack of perspective on Perry’s part as to what this country needs.