Dems shift platform to woo pro-lifers

The Obama campaign said earlier this week that polls show presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain narrowly leading among evangelicals but that these surveys also showed Mr. Obama leading among 17 other faith groups. Exit polls conducted during the primaries, however, showed that Mr. Obama had little support among Catholic voters — a group that is being targeted by the new platform language.

Despite the Democrats’ efforts to seek “common ground” with pro-lifers, the party’s campaign document reaffirmed that it “strongly and unequivocally supports Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to choose a safe and legal abortion, regardless of the ability to pay, and we oppose any and all efforts to weaken or undermine that right.”

The Conference of Catholic Bishops said it hasn’t changed the Democratic Party’s position.

“The Democratic platform persists in its unapologetic promotion of abortion, which kills unborn children and harms all those involved. Affirming the good of childbirth and adoption does not justify — or in any way soften — the party’s official support for an intrinsic evil,” said Deirdre McQuade, spokeswoman for the Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Some women’s groups within the Democrats’ liberal ranks were not happy with the direction of their party’s abortion language.

“It’s been our view as Democrats that women should make their decisions based on their moral values,” former NARAL Pro-Choice America President Kate Michelman told the New Republic in this week’s issue.

“The pro-life Democrats’ language is a means to an end, and the end is to limit abortion.”