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Moves like this could mean a long-term Democratic majority.

Democrats in Congress are preparing a bill they say will reduce U.S. abortions by 95 percent over 10 years by preventing "unwanted pregnancies" and providing "social support" for pregnant women. Supporters hope to soften their party's abortion-on-demand image and attract evangelical Christian and pro-life Catholic voters who have been voting Republican in recent years. "I would worry if I were the Republican leadership, because we are going to provide the true, long-term solution to reducing the number of abortions," said Rep. Tim Ryan, a pro-life Democrat from Ohio. Mr. Ryan is chief sponsor of the bill that is being fine-tuned and will be shown to Democrats in both houses after the Senate returns Dec. 12 from its Thanksgiving recess. One supporter is former Rep. Tim Roemer, an Indiana Democrat whose pro-life views helped cost him election to the Democratic National Committee chairmanship earlier this year. "This bill will put front and center the fact that there are too many abortions in the United States and what can we do through health care tax credits, adoption, contraception, abstinence, appropriate education of teenagers on how to reduce unwanted pregnancies," said Mr. Roemer, president of the Center for National Policy and a distinguished scholar at George Mason University's Mercatus Center[...] "Abortion numbers are still at a level unacceptable to most, probably all, Americans," Mr. Ryan said. "Our bill broadens the debate in a couple of ways -- by trying to prevent unwanted pregnancies and by providing support to a woman who is pregnant, but didn't intend to be. "We provide the social support she would need to bring the baby to full term, unlike Republicans who simply say you should not have an abortion, you should go to full term, but when you do, we won't be there any more to help you," Mr. Ryan said. "They offer no social safety net. We do."

This is brilliant. Don't cede the issue to Republicans. Engage it directly. "Abortion is bad" is not a policy, and saying it until you'r eblue in the face won't reduce unwanted pregnancies and abortions. We need a comprehensive policy to address all aspects of the issue. And becuase Republicans are so firmly wedded to the hard-core pro-life camp, it is absolutely impossible for them to propose one. But a sensible, comprehensive policy put forward by a pro-life Democrat from Ohio?

Dreams of realignments dancing....

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