Okay, I'm getting near the end.

What do I mean by the culture of abortion on demand?

Let's start with the 1890's. Parents actually feared the invention of the bicycle, because it permitted young lovers to quickly get escape the reach of parents overseeing them. And that, in turn, could lead to unwanted pregnancies - and thus financial burdens on the parents.

Fast forward to the 1960's. I'm going from memory here, but I recall reading once that there were 10,000 teenage pregnancies in or about 1965, and about 1,000,000 in 1988. One could deduce from that a similar effect on abortion. There are about 1,000,000 abortions per year in this country.

What I deduce from this is a whole lot of recreational, pre-marital sex! A lot more, evidently, than existed before the 1960's, when both birth control and legalized abortion were unknown.

When I was growing up, it was common for parents to take trips out of town while their high school aged kids partied, had unsupervised sex, and occasionally got pregnant and required an abortion. Same thing, of course, is quite common on college campuses. The people I know who had abortions, by the way, understood birth control quite well and were not the products of some sort of dreaded *abstinence education.* They just didn't take it seriously, and used abortion as a back-stop instead.

This whole *abortion culture* (which is really the culture of recreational sex, and also includes the poor -- I'm just focusing here on the middle class part), is premised on the notion that the fetus, which inevitably dies as a consequnce of the occasional unwanted pregnancy, is not particularly valuable. If it were, one would buck up, carry the child to term, and deal with the consequences. In a lot of cases, that doesn't happen, and *poverty* is not to blame, at least in the middle class. It's a case of simple inconvenience.

So, when Palin stands on a stage bearing a child that 90% of similarly situated women would have abandoned, she's sending a message. And that message, to the middle class audience is: this child was just as inconvenient to me as the fetuses you aborted were to all of you. Yet, I kept the child and let it live. Many of you did not. It's also a more uplifting message to young girls: you can do this too, and come out all right. Like I said, John the Baptist. His message too was a mixture of unrelenting harshness and comforting redemption.

For the youth, there is another message: you can be young, vibrant, and born again Christian like me, have your five kids, good looking husband, challenging career, and keep the child many would have turned down. That's a pretty confident message. It's also a big reason Christian conservatives have gone bananas over her.

Finally, you noted that you put anti-choice people in the same category with anti-semites. I see where you're going, but it's slightly inaccurate. An anti-semite has a real beef with Jews. Martin Luther wrote a religious tract against them and concluded they must be shown "they are not the lords of our land, as they imagine." Envy. Hate. Desire for pay-back. That's anti-semitism.

You might find this hard to believe, but most anti-choice people have no clenched teeth antagonism toward women who choose abortion. Indeed, most look around and see such women among their friends and relatives, even if they disagree with their decisions. Recall that when Katie Couric asked Palin how severe the punishment should be for a rape victim who chooses abortion (if Palin had her way), Palin said no woman who has an abortion should face any punishment at all. I actually think she believes that, if she is consistent with any of the evangelicals I have known.

What then gives? Does this make a hash of the anti-abortion position? Actually, yes, to a point. Because the pro-life position is premised on empathy for the fetus, not *hatred* of the woman. And that's different from anti-semitism. Most pro-lifers come around to favoring some sort of sanction on the doctor (pulling their license would effectively force them to stop), and get very squeamish on the issue of back alley alternatives. They don't relish the discussion at all.

So, let's get to the conclusion. You can lambast pro-life people for having no sensible, non-coercive way of reducing the number of abortions in this country. And you could say that their lack of clear policy prescriptions makes them de facto mean or absurd. (Other than that, what else is there, right?). Well, there is one thing more. Pro-life people can, and do, believe as they do about abortion because they think those little fetuses should somehow have a better chance than they do today to live. And that, NewYorkNY, is not an irrational or indefensible sentiment.

I am driving to Fort Wayne, Indiana tonight to see Sarah Palin in person. Will complete responses later on, assuming this letter thread is still open. Also look forward to further discussion.

I don't know enough about the rape kit story to comment. Please assist me, and I will be glad to approach it with an open mind.

Your first post contends that she "defunded" the kids. This was as mayor of Wasilla? I presume from this that funding was in place, and she then de-funded it? Was it a specific order? Part of a budgeting process? Did she make any pronouncements on it to explain her thinking?

You also say you have *heard* that she acted as she did based on the morning after pill. Is this fact or rumor?

I'll do some checking on my own, but I assume you can address these points directly, so I can respond.