Over on Religion Dispatches, Sarah Posner cornered Jim Wallis on where he actually stands on abortion these days, and here's what he told her:
So color Wallis reluctantly pro-choice. As for whether he supports current versions of health reform legislation, is there any evidence that he won't? Here's the key sentence in his "Faith Declaration for Health Care Reform":
"I believe the best response to abortion is not to criminalize what, I believe, is often a tragic and desperate choice; but rather to find effective and proven solutions to reduce abortion. This is the common ground possible between pro-life and pro-choice views."This is not a response calculated to make pro-choicers very happy, and Posner isn't. No question about it, Wallis doesn't like abortion; he might even (after a few beers) call himself pro-life. But saying that you don't want to criminalize it means that you think it should not be made illegal, because, duh, when you do something that's illegal it's a crime. And if it's not a crime, then doctors will be allowed to perform abortions and women will be able to, er, choose to have them.
So color Wallis reluctantly pro-choice. As for whether he supports current versions of health reform legislation, is there any evidence that he won't? Here's the key sentence in his "Faith Declaration for Health Care Reform":
While religious people don't all agree on all the issues of abortion, we should agree that it must not be allowed to derail the crucial need for comprehensive health care reform.I'm saying he's on board.
Here's the weak link in your logic:
But saying that you don't want to criminalize it means that you think it should not be made illegal, because, duh, when you do something that's illegal it's a crime.
Back in another era, we used to talk about decriminalization of marijuana possession. That didn't mean it would become legal, just that the penalties for possession of small-to-middlin' quantities would be more at the level of traffic tickets. But it most certainly didn't mean that, if decriminalized, anyone could open a shop which would sell pot.
If abortion were put in that sort of legal zone, then women wouldn't be imprisoned or hit with major fines for having abortions, and if a doctor with a valid medical license and no formal practice was caught performing an abortion, the same would apply to him/her. But a clinic offering abortions as one of their services would be shut down.
I wouldn't be for that, but I wouldn't be surprised if that's what Wallis had in mind.
Of course, the best solution would be for someone to ask him.