Democrats Should Be Wary of Confrontation with Catholic Church on Abortion

LA Times Op-Ed: Will abortion be an issue again?, by Tim Rutten:

As Democrats continue to sift through the electoral ashes of the midterm meltdown, a number of longtime activists have begun to insist that the party needs to reassert more clearly and forcefully its commitment to reproductive rights.

Their argument is that in key states where Democratic senators survived the prevailing anti-incumbent sentiment — notably California and, much more narrowly, Colorado, Nevada and Washington — voters who indicated the greatest concern with a candidate's stand on abortion provided the margin of victory.

It's hard to make a credible case that anything but the miserable economy and joblessness mattered in this midterm, but that hasn't stopped determined culture warriors on both sides of the aisle from arguing that their party's future prospects turn on reviving conflict over the most divisive social issues, including abortion, marriage equality and immigration. . . .