Palin On Abortion

I can't resist making one more comment about the interview Katie Couric recently conducted with Sarah Palin.

The CBS anchor woman asked Governor Earmark whether "it should be illegal....for a girl who was raped or the victim of incest to get an abortion?" The V.P. nominee responded ".....and, um, if you're asking, though, kind of foundationally here, should anyone end up in jail for having an … abortion, absolutely not. That's nothing I would ever support."

Couric bravely persisted and asked.....but you also think it should be illegal, that there should be no punishment if a woman does break the law…" And Palin, who had adamantly asserted "I am pro-life," wisely avoided in her rambling answer again addressing the matter.

Wise, but as I've noted before, apparently hypocritical. Echoing very likely a majority position in this country, Palin stated also "I am one to believe that life starts at the moment of conception" and has stated her opposition to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade. If the ruling is overturned and abortion made illegal (to one extent or another) in a given jurisdiction, it certainly would be done so in the belief that abortion is killing. And no indication comes from Mrs. Palin that she would want the individual requesting the killing of a baby to be prosecuted.

If not hypocritical, it is instead a dazzling display of consistency in Mrs. Palin's positions. Before she became mayor Wasilla, Alaska, Wasilla (alone among Alaskan municipalities) had enacted a policy charging reported victims of rape for the cost of the forensic rape kit used by law enforcement in prosecuting the alleged perpetrator. Wasilla's chief of police, Irl Stambaugh, regularly included a line item in his budget so that the town instead would pay for the cost of the exams. However, Stambaugh ran afoul of Mayor Palin and was fired, in part for angering the National Rifle Association and for moving closing time of Wasilla's bars from 5:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. to cut into the incidences of drunken driving arrests and accidents. (His suit for breach of contract was dismissed because chiefs of police in Alaska serve at the pleasure of the mayor.) Stambaugh was replaced by Charlie Fannon, who removed the line in the budget, signed by Mayor Palin- and, unsuccessfully protested the proposed law requiring municipal government to pay for the rape kits.

Sarah Palin. Tough on rape victims, soft on drunken driving, and soft on individuals who would (in her view) solicit the murder of a baby.