'Fundamental culture change' on abortion: Conservatives make gains on restrictions

[Valin]

NBC:

 

 

People opposing and supporting abortion rights demonstrate outside the Alabama Women's Center for Reproductive Alternatives in Huntsville in February.

 

Erin McClam

4/13/13

 

When Virginia approved restrictions that could force abortion clinics to close, it joined a rapidly growing list of states that are energizing social conservatives by making it more difficult for women to terminate pregnancies.

 

Four other states have tightened abortion restrictions in less than two months — part of what abortion-rights groups say is an alarming trend since Republicans swept the 2010 elections. The American Civil Liberties Union on Friday called the Virginia restrictions “excessive and inappropriate.”

 

Anti-abortion groups see evidence of a break between the relatively stable politics of abortion at the national level and the action in the states.

 

“There’s a fundamental culture change going on,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony List, which supports anti-abortion political candidates. She called the recent restrictions “common-sense, common-ground” measures.

 

 

(Snip)

 

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