Pro-life Democrats
I had a discussion with my extremely pro-life in-laws this weekend in which they declared that they would never vote for a pro-choice politician. That's an argument that I have difficulty taking issue with. Abortion is the one issue that I'm willing to cede to George Bush. If you believe abortion is murder, there is a pretty good argument to be made that you have to vote Republican. As far as I know, there aren't even any third parties which take a pro-life stance at the federal level. So what can you do if you disagree with everything George Bush has done but are pro-life? I've thought about it and here's the best answer I can come up with.
You begin by recogizing that everyone is in favor of reducing the number of abortions. I am certain that in John Kerry's ideal world, the number of abortions taking place each year would be zero. Pro-choice politicians are not advocating for abortions. They merely think that abortion is a personal decision that individuals should be allowed to make. It is possible that we could have a country run entirely by pro-choice politians and yet not have any abortions. Once you recognize this possibility, the solution for the anti-Iraq War, anti-deficit, anti-moron, pro-life voter is obvious. Vote your conscience on issues other than abortion and express your pro-life stance through private philanthopic efforts directed towards organizations that work to minimize the conditions that lead to abortions in the first place. This would sort of be the bizzaro version of the person who thinks that we all have an obligation to provide assistance to the worst off in our society, but doesn't believe that the government should be responsible for coordinating that effort and votes Republican.
Not only do I think that a pro-choice/anti-abortion position is logically consistent, I actually think it's the more morally courageous position to take. As a society, we want to know that babies are not being aborted because we have created an environment that supports and facilitates raising children (e.g., by insuring them, providing for their daycare, and forcing their fathers to support them -- all Democrat initiatives, in case you hadn't noticed), not because we threatened the most vulnerable people in our society with prison (a consequence that would fall almost entirely upon women).