Opinion: Abortion and big-tent feminism

View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Monday, February 27, 2017 [NYTimes.com/Opinion »]( On most issues, women are significantly more liberal than men, young Americans are more liberal than older Americans and African-Americans are more liberal than whites. But there is at least one big exception — a major issue on which the views of the two sexes, different races and different age groups are fairly similar. That issue may surprise you: [abortion](. I think this fact highlights the moral complexity of abortion. Some issues — gay marriage and voting restrictions, for example — are straightforward, if still controversial, matters of civil rights. But abortion is different. It requires unavoidable tradeoffs. Abortion opponents favor laws that deny women control over their own bodies. Proponents of abortion access, meanwhile, favor laws that permit the taking of human life. Today’s Op-Ed page wades into this debate with [a piece by Lauren Enriquez]( a pro-life advocate at Human Coalition. I disagree with major chunks of her argument, and she chose to emphasize that most women favor abortion restrictions (true) rather than that most women favor fairly broad abortion access ([also true](. But I think she’s right that the progressive movement will be stronger if it’s willing to welcome abortion opponents. “As a woman who has been involved in the pro-life movement for my entire adult life,” Enriquez writes, “I want to obliterate the stereotype that the people working to end abortion hate women.” Remember that public opinion on abortion also doesn’t split neatly by age. Young people are only moderately more in favor of abortion than older people, which suggests that this debate isn’t going away anytime soon. The full Opinion report from The Times follows, including Ioan Grillo on [the surge in murders of Mexican journalists](. And you can join Frank Bruni, Ross Douthat and Lynda Obst, the producer of “Sleepless in Seattle,” “Interstellar” and “Good Girls Revolt,” for a [post-Oscars live chat]( at noon ET. David Leonhardt Op-Ed Columnist Editorial [Missing: Donald Trump’s Trillion-Dollar Infrastructure Plan]( By THE EDITORIAL BOARD If he had a proposal to rebuild the nation, it would be a slam dunk. If! Op-Ed Columnist [Trump, Archenemy of Truth]( By CHARLES M. BLOW The press is the light that makes the roaches scatter. Op-Ed Columnist [The Uses of Outrage]( By PAUL KRUGMAN Civil society needs to take a stand. ADVERTISEMENT Op-Ed Contributor [How the New Feminist Resistance Leaves Out American Women]( By LAUREN ENRIQUEZ A majority of women want more restrictions on abortions, but the movement refuses to acknowledge that. Editorial [Mental Illness, Untreated Behind Bars]( By THE EDITORIAL BOARD Society and the prison system would both benefit from effective treatment of those who need it. Editorial [Kansas’ Trickle-Down Flood of Red Ink]( By THE EDITORIAL BOARD Gov. Sam Brownback’s deep tax cuts failed to increase state revenue; they led, instead, to alarming deficits. Matilda Ellis/The Design School, Kingston University [On Campus]( [What It’s Like to Have Your Parents Deported]( By PAOLA BENEFO Two weeks before finals in 2015, I learned my mother might be deported. The same thing had happened to my father three years before. Op-Ed Contributor [The Immigration Debate We Need]( By GEORGE BORJAS How much of a price are the American people willing to pay, and who will pay it? Contributing Op-Ed Writer [Britain’s Absent Opposition]( By KENAN MALIK With Labour in decline and UKIP sabotaging itself, Theresa May’s Tories go all but unchallenged. The Stone [Our Forger-in-Chief]( By ALEXANDER GEORGE Trump’s attacks on the press and science aim to prevent us from knowing the world as it truly is. ADVERTISEMENT Sunday Review [The Murders of My Colleagues]( By IOAN GRILLO Dead Mexican journalists are old news. But we can’t stop covering them. Sunday Review [What Does Steve Bannon Want?]( By CHRISTOPHER CALDWELL There may be good reasons to worry, but they’re not the ones everyone is giving. Letters [Melania Trump and the Art of Being the First Lady]( Readers discuss working for pay, willingness to serve and feminism. FOLLOW OPINION [Facebook] [FACEBOOK]( [Twitter] [@nytopinion]( [Pinterest] [Pinterest]( Get more [NYTimes.com newsletters »](  | Get unlimited access to NYTimes.com and our NYTimes apps for just $0.99. [Subscribe »]( ABOUT THIS EMAIL You received this message because you signed up for NYTimes.com's Opinion Today newsletter. [Unsubscribe]( | [Manage Subscriptions]( | [Change Your Email]( | [Privacy Policy]( | [Contact]( | [Advertise]( Copyright 2017 The New York Times Company 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018