Just curious, I'm already hearing from people who all they heard was, "repeal Roe v. Wade"and they're going, "you can't do that it's against the Constitution and a woman's rights!"
Question, how do you present this to people who feel abortion it's like a woman's right to vote?
Delicately.
First off -- there are some people you shouldn't even get into this conversation with. Especially if you are male. Telling someone who is hardcore pro-choice that it's 'murder' or that she shouldn't have that ability is like telling someone who is hardcore pro-life to open their wallet and pay for an abortion. It just won't end well.
Now. If they're reasonable, the way to approach this, imo, is to say something like:
"First, we need to define the problem. Half the country believes that it is completely a woman's choice. The other half of the country believes a fetus has a soul and that abortion is murder. I'm not trying to convince you that it's murder; I just want to make sure you understand how differently both sides view it. Because once you do that, you'll see why half the country is so adamantly opposed to abortion. It's mass murder to them -- just think about how much you'd want to stop, say, abusive child labor, or something along those lines.
To add salt to the wound, our taxpayer money often goes to pay for abortions. Those that believe abortion is murder find this as morally offensive as many anti-war people find paying for our military to go overseas and kill people.
Basically - understand that they're not trying to attack your rights so much as save and protect what they consider life; obviously, not everyone thinks that, but it's important to understand both sides have good intentions. They seek to protect the unborn, and you seek to protect women. While you may value an adult woman more than an unborn child, not everyone feels that way. Just because you come down on one side of the equation doesn't mean someone else can't disagree with you.
Now. When something is legislated at a Federal level, it can be extremely divisive. Can you imagine the outrage if the Federal government criminalized abortion? Well, that same outrage you'd feel is how half the country feels with RvW in place. It's dividing this country, factions lined up against each other. We see the results of this sort of divisiveness every day.
And remember - by making abortion a federal issue - that is, giving them jurisdiction over it - you're also giving them the ability to take it away. 10 years from now, we could have a conservative president and congress, and -bam- it's criminalized across the nation... and that would be a direct result of empowering the Federal gov't to make these sorts of moral decisions for an entire country.
Our Constitution had a novel solution for controversial problems like this. Rather than solve it at the federal level, let each state decide for themselves. It's the same excellent solution for many other issues, such as marijuana legalization. Many states want it, many states don't. Does this mean some states will decide differently than you would like? Sure. But that's their business. You can leave. And if enough people leave, or simply vote, they can change the policy of their state. it's much easier to change policy at the state level than the federal level, and it's much easier to leave a state than it is to renounce citizenship and leave a country.
But most importantly, doing things at the state level will allow this country to start to heal. We're so divided right now - not just on abortion, or drug laws, but across the board.
Anyway, that's Ron Paul's position. He doesn't think it's Constitutional to decide issues like this at the Federal level. He wants to let each community decide for themselves.
And I know you're worried about the 16 year old girl who lives in a state where abortion is outlawed. Yes, this is a problem... but it's a problem a busride to the next state over can solve. But compare this to the alternative - a gov't you yourself empowered could someday criminalize abortion for everyone. So, in exchange for this hypothetical girl's new issue of needing busfare, you've prevented a Federal ban on abortion, and also took a huge step towards healing this country.
We need to come to grips with the concept that politics should not be about 'winning' every issue by getting our views legislated for all, but rather, allowing each community to decide for themselves.
