By John Pudner
This week various Fox News Radio reporters across the country asked me about the Arizona pro-life decision, and I confess the first thing that popped into my mind was this scene from Seinfeld.
After listening to Elaine complain about pro-life groups and also talk about how wonderful her new truck driver/boyfriend is, it suddenly occurs to Seinfeld to ask if the boyfriend is pro-choice like Elaine. She assures him the boyfriend is pro-choice, but only based on the fact that he is good-looking and wonderful and therefore MUST be pro-choice.
She stops making out long enough to bring up the issue in a roundabout way, only to have her face drop as her heartthrob stares away in longing and responds, “Someday we’re gonna get enough people on the Supreme Court to change that law.”
Only Seinfeld writer and creator Larry David can capture moments like this.
Obviously, that is levity on a very serious issue that reemerged as a political issue in the summer of 2022 when Roe v Wade was finally overturned. I was overseeing large-scale door-to-door canvassing at the time, which immediately confirmed what I had said over a lifetime of pro-life causes:
“The first step is overturning Roe v. Wade, but when it happens pro-life Americans need to let pro-life elected officials make exceptions for the 1% of cases that result from rape, incest and to save the life of the mother – because if we don’t support candidates who are pro-life in that 99% of cases they will be replaced by those would stop 0% of abortions.”
I had said this in the 1980s as Marquette Students for Life was built into the largest group on campus and in the 1990s as the Virginia Society for Human Life’s Congressional Chair. And knocking on doors in 2022 we quickly saw voters who thought of themselves as pro-life still saying they could not accept a candidate who would not make exceptions.
While only 8 percent of Americans support a pro-life law without the rape and incest exception, and yet email blasts were sent from a pro-life group suggesting voters should not vote for either a candidate who was pro-life in those 99% of cases or the opponent who supported abortion until birth.
As I said during multiple radio interviews this week, I was disappointed President Trump indicated he would not seek federal pro-life legislation – though that had to be balanced with the fact that without his judicial appointments, the states would not have the ability to pass laws like the Georgia heartbeat bill.
Legislation is only one method – there are now more crisis pregnancy centers, that rely on volunteer contributions to provide young mothers the food and supplies they need for a new baby – thank Planned Parenthood Centers, which is a billion-dollar industry that I’ve also noted has complete disregard for campaign election laws. (click on Report: Planned Parenthood Affiliates Break Tax Rules to Fund Democrats)
Two years after I was hit with criticism for that stance, conservative icon Kari Lake released a video making the same case to voters as she runs for US Senate in the state making the latest decision (see news story here). Ronald Reagan said someone who agrees with you 80% is a friend, and on this issue turning away someone who agrees with you on 99% is a very good friend indeed.
Here is the transcript of the attached recording.
Marc Cox – the Marc Cox Morning Show (Fox News Radio based in Missouri)
The abortion ruling yesterday by the Supreme Court in Arizona…the media is making this out to be the huge 2024 issue. I read the ruling and this was on technical grounds, right?
WIFF President John Pudner
It was. The issue hurts us (pro-life Americans) out there right now. In Wisconsin, we faced the (reaction) when Roe was overturned, and suddenly all abortions were banned. That’s a tough political issue. Even making exceptions (ONLY) for the life of the mother gives you only about 8% support.
Republicans are in a spot now where it took them a year to realize that they’re gonna have to be exceptions on at least rape and incest, etc. So yeah, it hurts, but the issue itself is down (in the polls and) not a big issue now. The Democrats keep looking for an issue and it’s kind of the only issue they have going for them. Anything like this, they’ll latch on to. (Abortion advocates) will get some political gain out of it, don’t want to belittle that, anything that legitimately puts it back in the headlines for people to think about, but it’s just not gonna have the life of two years ago when Roe had just been overturned. I mean, that was news of the 50 years, and that had legs to it, but I’m not sure this does.
Marc Cox
Yeah, I would agree. John Pudner, we appreciate your time my friend. Thank you.
Marc Cox has hosted “The Marc Cox (Morning) Show” on 97.1 FM Talk since 2020. He is an Emmy award-winning veteran of Television News, with a career that covers 5 states, 4 TV stations, 3 radio stations, and more than 30 years. He spent 19 of those years at KMOV-TV, as an anchor, reporter, and producer/ He’s covered some of the nation’s biggest stories.
John Pudner, President
Wisconsin Faith and Freedom Coalition
