A recent letter writer suggested that Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama might be “anti-life” based on his support for the Freedom of Choice Act (or FOCA; S.1173 in the Senate and H.R. 1964 in the House). I don’t believe Senator Obama is “anti-life” — but as a pro-life Democrat, I am concerned about his support for FOCA.
The Freedom of Choice Act would allegedly “Protect, consistent with Roe v. Wade, a woman’s freedom to choose to bear a child or terminate a pregnancy.” In fact, FOCA would go way beyond codifying Roe v. Wade by eliminating many sensible restrictions on abortion that most Americans support, like parental notification for minors seeking to have an abortion, and bans on late-term and partial-birth abortion procedures. FOCA would therefore threaten the fragile common ground that has been achieved so far on the issue of abortion.

Eddie Konczal is a Rutgers College class of 1992 alumnus. He currently lives in Monroe Township, NJ.