William Weld Quotes
I extend that to the abortion issue, I extend that to the so-called gay rights issue, I think this is a freedom principle and consistent with the analysis in the economic area as well.
There is a very slight risk to the woman with a modern abortion procedure. There is a much greater risk to a woman who chooses to bring the fetus to term and give birth. The risk is small but it is 14 times more risk of maternal mortality (death to the mother) than with an abortion. There is also a much higher proportion of mental health problems (eg Post Partum Psychosis) for women who give birth. Most anti abortion advocates argue the issue on moral grounds and their view that we have a moral obligation not to take life. This has great legitimacy and there is a very large minority of Americans who agree with this position. However, anti-abortion advocates like Fortenberry who either are ignorant of the medical science and statistics or knows but lies about it, harm the cause they advocate for by coming across to many Americans as ignorant and/or untruthful, and they discredit the many fair and honest abortion foes.
At the time the vast majority of the Republication politicians were strongly opposed to gay rights and same sex marriage and the Republican Party Platform reflected this. But while not a majority then, a significant proportion of the Republican registered voters saw no inconsistency between Republican principles and gay rights just like Lampo. The radical right religious fundamentalists however then had a de facto veto on Republican national candidates and policies.
Romney had a reputation for changing his political position and trying to straddle positions. After losing this race, Romney improved as a candidate and did not try and straddle as much. He won the governorship in the next election.
This quotation is very surprising to most people who are not familiar with the history of the struggle regarding abortion in America. In the early days of the family planning movement and when abortion rights were first advocated in America, the proponents were almost all Republicans. At the time, the Republican Party consisted of economic conservatives and social liberals—“Rockefeller Republicans they would later be called. At the same time the Democratic Party was aligned very differently. The Southern Conservatives and fundamentalist Protestants of the Bible Belt were all Democrats. Most Roman Catholics were Democrats. Intellectuals at the time tended to side with the Democrats on economic issues and with the Republicans on social issues. In the 1960s the Republicans went after the racist resentment in the South over the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Southern Democrats of the Solid South switched to the Republican Party, and many liberal republicans, reacting to their party now being the party of the the anti equality racists, became Republicans. The Southern Democrats then pushed out the moderate Republicans who were the social liberals.
At the time, most English socialists were not socially liberal while Crosland and others thought that they needed to be to be relevant to the coming generations and to be consistent with the principle of equality. There is no British Constitution like the American Constitution. The Parliament may has to change laws before any progress is made on social issues and civil rights. The courts may not override parliament, and the highest British Court is the House of Lords—part of Parliament.
William Floyd Weld is an American attorney, businessman, author, and politician who served as the 68th Governor of Massachusetts from 1991 to 1997. A Harvard and Oxford graduate, Weld began his career as legal counsel to the United States House Committee on the Judiciary before becoming the United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts and later, the United States Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division. He worked on a series of high-profile public corruption cases and later resigned in protest of an ethics scandal and associated investigations into Attorney General Edwin Meese.
