Can a pro-choice candidate win the 8th CD?

Last week I was sent an email exchange between Steve Kagen supporters and Nancy Nusbaum supporters that got me thinking. The Kagen supporter was saying that Nusbaum is trying to hide her pro-choice beliefs since she doesn't mention them on her campaign website. That got me wondering...can a pro-choice candidate win the 8th CD?

I think the answer is yes.

For the record, all three candidates in the race are pro-choice from what I've read, but none of them are talking much about it. The 8th CD is a somewhat conservative district that has many voting Catholics that are not pro-choice. But there are two things to consider when it comes to voting day - all of those Catholics will most likely not vote solely on the abortion issue and the likely Republican candidate, Rep. John Gard, has votes on women's health overall that are out-of-step even for a district that leans pro-life.

Gard has voted against requiring health insurance companies to cover contraceptives. He also voted to allow pharmacists to refuse to fill birth control prescriptions in 2001 and 2005. Gard also thinks its ok to force rape and incest victims to go from hospital to hospital if they want access to emergency contraception since he voted against requiring hospitals to carry it.

Interestingly, Gard doesn't have a section on abortion in the issues section of his campaign website either. That suggests he has polling that shows his views on women's health and abortion are out-of-line with his district. Otherwise, he would be trumpeting his anti-choice votes from the tallest building and have an entire section devoted to this topic on his website.

Women's reproductive freedom is about much more than abortion, but pro-choice candidates shouldn't try to hide their beliefs on abortion for numerous reasons. The biggest reason is that everyone will find out at some point and if you try to get everyone's vote on this issue by talking out of both sides of your mouth, you end up with no one's vote. The loss column is littered with numerous former pro-choice candidates of this stripe.

It also means someone else will define you on this issue with a negative ad that will make you want to throw your television out the window.

The other, larger reason is that pro-choice candidates being afraid to talk about abortion has led to the anti-choice movement chipping away at more than the right to an abortion. When they saw every time they said the word 'abortion' pro-choice candidates in swing areas ran for cover as fast as they could, it emboldened them to start adding more and more restrictions on how women can control their reproductive choices.

It has let the anti-choice movement force doctors to hide important information and present some information that is downright false as fact. It has led to pharmacists thinking they can hang up on a women calling to fill her legal prescription for birth control. And it has led governors to sign bills that will cause young women to die from botched abortions because their state has banned them completely.

In the past almost every candidate was advised not to talk about this issue if at all possible. But Nusbaum and the other Democratic candidates should not be afraid to talk about this issue. I'm not saying bring it up all the time, but don't try to avoid the issue either.

Polling consistently shows that voters support access to abortions. The 8th CD most likely supports restrictions on abortions but it is unlikely that it supports a ban on them either.

And the voters in the 8th CD and elsewhere have started to realize the anti-choice movement and the candidates they support want to do more than ban abortions. They don't intend to stop trying to pass more laws restricting a women's reproductive freedom until they get to sit in on every appointment.

Unease with the new restrictions that the anti-choice movement is trying to drag our country toward can translate into a win for a pro-choice candidate in the 8th CD.